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| Chinese students at Jefferson's Tomb, July 4th, 2012 |
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July, 4, 2012.
Monticello, Home of Thomas Jefferson, Charlottesville, Virginia, 9:00 a.m.
One of these people is not like the others. That would be
me. The five of us have arrived just in time for the opening of the
naturalization ceremony. For the past 50 years, July 4th has not
only marked our day of independence in the US, it has been the biggest day of
the year at Monticello. Each year, a group of people have traveled up
Jefferson’s little mountain to become US citizens. Today there will be over 80
people who will have a judge and many dignitaries speak to them and then perform
the official act.
The sweltering heat which has been around for over a week is
not quite toxic yet. The Charlottesville municipal band is playing patriotic
music. There seem to be hundreds of people who are helping with this event. They
hand out programs, they drive buses, they take photos, and they are here to
celebrate the day, and the place, and the man. Even for an old cynic like me it
is hard not be moved even before the ceremony starts.
I have chosen to wear a red and white checkered shirt,
partly out of patriotism and partly to ingratiate myself to my four guests. Paul, sitting next to me,
is in a blue and white checkered shirt. So from a distance I think we must look
like the American flag. This is kind of funny to me, because Paul and the three
others I have brought with me are all from China. Two of them are visiting
scholars, PhD students doing high level research. One of them is an architect.
She is following in the footsteps of her father who is one of the experts in
the world on vibrations and bridges, a topic I only know from watching the
swaying bridge video from a long, long time ago in America.
The other, I have just met when he got into my car. He is an
engineer. When I ask him what he is working on he says “control theory’. As I
have not a clue what this means I say “oh, I thought that would be more under
political theory since isn’t that what the Chinese government does?” I am not
known for my political correctness. But they all laugh and nod their heads, perhaps
politely. The last is an undergraduate student in architecture who studies at a
high school in China I have visited a number of times. It is, without a doubt,
the most amazingly modern and overwhelmingly impressive campus I have seen, and
I have spent 28 years visiting schools all around the world. For many years I served
as director of international admission at the University of Virginia.
I have had the best job in the world. I have traveled
endlessly and every place I have been I have been warmly welcomed by people who
care deeply and passionately about education. I have met and become friends
with amazing people. Some of the students I have worked with are already
changing the world in significant ways. And I had the honor to be around them.
I cannot begin to tell you how much I have learned from them. I have been lucky
enough to have done well in my academic career. But it has been talking to
students and parents that have educated me how to live in the world.
The ceremony begins. It is perfect. An honored judge in
Virginia, an African American, reads out the words of the Declaration of
Independence. Jefferson lives today. The words I have read and heard almost
daily at Uva come alive. I know this day is going to be something special. A
few more short speeches and then the featured speaker steps to the mike. Nadia Comaneci is not as familiar a name to
many as it used to be. She is the Romanian born gymnast, who, in 1976, scored
the first perfect 10 in Olympic history. Since then aside from obtaining more
gold in subsequent Olympics, she has become a person devoted to helping others.
She has been voted one of the top 100 women of the 20th Century. In short, she
is about as impressive as they come.
She talked briefly about her
Olympic experiences, but her focus was on the honored guests there to become US
citizens. She addressed them with humility, humor, and insight. It was inspiring
enough that it brought tears to my eyes. She told of her own road to US
citizenship, and the need to have passion, and love, and energy and pride, and
a complete commitment to making oneself and one’s country better, whether it be
Romania or the US or any place else on earth:
The crowd loved
it. After that, the citizens were sworn in and then any of them who wanted to
were encouraged to speak. Lots of them did and each had something inspiring to
say. But I want to focus on just two. The first was a young man from Sudan. He had
been working at Monticello for a number of years and was clearly a crowd
favorite. He thanked everyone around for helping him obtain his dream. It was clear
he was beloved by everyone there. And it was as clear as anything ever could be
he loved America and loved the fact he had been given the chance to pursue his
dreams. It was a magic moment.
And the other
person who moved me most was a woman from Zimbabwe. She spoke in the clipped
Brit tones of people who have lived there most of their lives. What she talked
about was how important it was for people in the US to remember that the vote
in some places in the world was not something to be taken for granted. Instead,
she said that because of the dictatorship in Zimbabwe she had to decide if she
would take her life into her hands to even try to vote. She knew enough that
she would likely be killed if she even came close to a polling station. She
decided that since the outcome of the election was already determined, that
casting a vote that would never be counted would not be worth her life. She
came to this country and today she is a US citizen. And she promised all of us
she will never miss a vote. Ever. And I
believe her. She was not quite scolding those of us born here, but she had
every right (in all senses of the word) to do so. She said she could not
understand why so few Americans voted. She said that they must not know that a
vote is sacred, something never to be taken for granted. She said as citizens
it was our duty to be a part of the process. And I for one think she is right. And
she is one reason for my question.
But there are a
few more. Paul and I had wandered into the shade to get away from the blazing
sun. I told him that since he and I knew the leadership at Monticello I would
go ahead and talk to them afterward to see about meeting some of these
inspirational people. A few years ago, I had taken Paul and a few other
students from China to stand on the very steps in front of Monticello that the
honored guests were on now. He was there as a representative of Uva to welcome
the Ambassador from China to the US, Zhou Wenzhong, to Monticello. I brought him there as he was the first student from
China ever to be honored with the privilege of living in one of the original
Lawn rooms that are part of the Heritage Site that is the center of Uva. It is
the highest honor any student at Uva can receive. He has helped me in
innumerable ways to encourage any student who comes to study in the US to learn.
By this I do not mean just get good grades because frankly the students from
China lead the pack at Uva in academic performance by leaps and bounds. What he
talked about was embracing the culture. He told students, on many occasions,
that what they must learn above all is how to get involved outside of the
classroom. To embrace leadership and service, those things Jefferson dreamt of
when he founded Uva. In other words, he was the perfect embodiment of what a
liberal arts education is all about. And this kind of education is uniquely
American. It is what makes us the greatest educational destination in the
world.
But today, Paul stood
in a different place. In May of this year he became a US citizen. He just left
a great job in New York with one of the most prestigious investment banks in
the country. He is currently back to help his mother who has just purchased a restaurant
in town. She is a new entrepreneur opening her business in troubled times. She
will be hiring US citizens to work. She is a job creator. Paul will be off to Stanford for his MBA this
August, but he is here to help her fix up the rather run down space they have.
If any family embodies the American hopes and dreams, they are it.
But he is not
alone. Just two days ago, I received a desperate email from another Chinese
student who is back home with her parents in China. She is famous in China for
being one of the top students in the country. I would be more specific but to
do so would reveal her identity. In any case, at Uva, she was the embodiment of
the best that we expect from our students. She was a resident adviser for new
students, a class trustee, and a top student in the second ranked business
school in the US. She had been offered a great job in New York to start in
September. She had achieved her dream. Until two days ago.
She was informed
that the law firm representing her company had not been fast enough. There are
only 65,000 spaces this year set aside for foreign nationals to come and work
in the US. And she was out of luck. All the spaces were gone. Our current
policies have just ruined the dreams of one of the best students Uva has ever
had. She, like Paul, is political, verbal, and cares immensely about both China
and the US. And now her dreams have been crushed. Now she cannot be a part of
this great nation of ours.
And my follow up
question is how as a country are we better off? We are turning away the best
and brightest people from around the world who seem to have more commitment to
being active citizens than some of us born and raised here. But I am not
worried for her. Last summer I was lucky enough to be invited to a dinner with
the third richest man in China. As is always the case, I brought a couple of
students with me. They far outshine me and I get to bask in their reflected
glow. It was no surprise that when this student who I am talking about was finished
talking with him, she had his personal email and direct dial phone number and
an instant offer of a job. You see, she is not the one I am worried about. It
is us (and the US). Instead of adding to our economy and wealth, she will be
one of the people many in our country are afraid of. She will be one of the
people who will take a job from the US because it will be outsourced to her.
Something is very wrong with this picture (a word I use for a purpose). I am
not even sure she wants to be a US citizen. At the moment, probably not. But
she will never have the chance to have that chance.
This breaks my
heart and a good deal of my faith in what we as a country are doing. We were
built on the backs of immigrants and we still will be if we let more of them be
a part of the American dream. Earlier this week, a great professor and great
friend of mine (he has been given the best professor at Uva award), recommended
a book to me. The book is Marilynn Robinson’s When I Was A Child I Read Books
Here is the opening sentence of this
wonderful book: Writing in 1870, Walt
Whitman said, “America, if eligible at
all to downfall and ruin, is eligible within herself, not without; for I see
clearly that the combined foreign world could not beat her down”.
It is the immigrants today who are
teaching us about the importance of our vote. It is the immigrants who are the entrepreneurs
and risk takers, innovators and job creators. It is the immigrants that are not
allowed in who may be slowing our economy down, not threatening our way of
life. They want to vote, to dream, and to make this country better. Why don’t
we vote on this issue? Why don’t we vote at all?
And I should add that my friend, the
top teacher at Uva award winner, is an immigrant to the US too. The picture
below is of those wonderful students that took time to be a part of America’s
birthday on top of Thomas Jefferson’s mountain. They are standing next to his
grave. For me, today at least, they are the patriots who would love to help
this country grow and prosper. I wish more people in the country would agree
with me. I am sure Thomas Jefferson would.
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