Immigration Panel: Have To Get Beyond 'Where'd You Go To High School'
The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center hosted a panel Tuesday ahead of the release of a St. Louis Economic Council report on the issue.
The St. Louis County Economic Council is putting the focus on the connection between immigration and innovation in 2012. Tuesday, the agency hosted a panel discussion at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in Creve Coeur ahead of the release of a report on what immigration means for the economic future of the St. Louis region.
The Danforth Center itself was a fitting venue for the event, as the facility boasts of having scientists from more than 20 countries on the site.
As you'll see in our Storify coverage curated on this page, panelists argued for getting past divisive debates that tend to surround immigration and focus on bringing new people and new energy to the region.
Part of that is letting go of the age-old "where did you go to high school?" question, panelists said.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch had coverage of the report prior to Tuesday's forum
Robin Tidwell
12:15 pm on Tuesday, June 19, 2012
I'm sorry, but I'm just not buying that a reason for low immigration to the area has anything at all to do with "so, where did you go to high school?" It's a quirk of STL natives, nothing more; if someone feels left out or put upon because he didn't go to high school here, well, he should probably just get over it. Sounds like another branch of poitical correctness. Sheesh.
Rahib
4:33 pm on Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Where'd you go to high school is really a dumb question. A better question should be where'd you grow up. Obviously if you answer xyz public school that will give an indication as to your neighborhood, but not if you went to a private school.
Tongsoo
4:46 pm on Tuesday, June 19, 2012
I agree with Robin. It has nothing to do with the question and everything to do with the close mindedness of the general Missouri/St. Louis populace. Outside the university bubbles, people of foreign descent (be they American born/raised or immigrant) feel out of place (and rightfully so). Being Asian, and having grown up in the St. Louis area, I can't begin to count how many times I was asked where I'm from (St. Charles, clearly not being the answer they were looking for) or told how "good" I speak English or treated in a discriminating and/or hurtful manner. St. Louis. Moreover, ask anybody at Wash U's professional schools: business, law, engineering, etc. for their experiences in trying to secure employment in the St. Louis area. Non-St Louis folk must continually make a case for their being in St. Louis and justify it with ties stronger than "I went to school here." Such justifications aren't asked for in New York, D.C. or Chicago.
@Rahib, I have to disagree with your proposal. The high school question is more than just location. The high schools have significant interactions with one another. Usually, the question is used to prompt the follow up of "do you know ____? I was on [insert inter high school sports/music organization] with him/her."
Candace Jarrett
4:56 pm on Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Tongsoo, I think you have some valid points. I think quite are few are more racial/prejudicial than foreign/biased as I encountered many of these things not being born in Missouri but growing up here. For example I heard a lot that I "speak really well" or "you are so XXX for -long pause- well." You can fill in the blank as to what I've heard: smart, well-mannered, friendly- and the list could go on and on. However I do also think the high school origin question is valid in the sense of networking as you mentioned, but having lived for substantial amounts of time after college in multiple states, the outside in point-of-view happens every where.
Rahib
4:58 pm on Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Perhaps it's just better to not talk to strangers.
Candace Jarrett
5:05 pm on Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Oh another thing to note, would be better means of transition for young students. I remember in high school we had a significant population of exchange and student immigrants and it could be quite an adjustment for some. I could only imagine at the elementary level. One of my best friends that I met in college moved to mid-Missouri form Taiwan in an exchange program when she was 14. She knew no English and said that time in her life was hell because it's difficult to adjust to a different place without much help from school administrators.
Lindsay Toler
8:09 am on Wednesday, June 20, 2012
I love the idea that STLers have to get beyond the "Where'd you go to HS" question. I'm not an immigrant, but I am a transplant! And STL is a hard place to break into if you weren't around in your high school days. I think we miss out on some amazing people if we can't be open and welcoming.
Scott Simon
1:50 pm on Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Sorry Lindsay but St. Louis is NOT a hard place to break into and I was born and reared in Fort Worth and I hired about 40 journalists over the years who weren't from here and many still work here. They would have left if they hadn't liked it. Robin is right. Lots of political correctness abounds.
Robin Tidwell
3:31 pm on Wednesday, June 20, 2012
I don't think it anything to do with being "open and welcoming." It's just a STL thing, a way to connect. Even when I've lived elsewhere I'd meet people from STL, and that question always came up as a way to start the convo. A lot of places have customs, or idiosyncracies, or "codes."
I just can't imagine a family or individual saying, "Oh, heck no I'm not moving to STL! Someone might ask me where I went to high school - and then, aw, I might feel bad!"
Phil Gonzalez
2:59 am on Thursday, June 21, 2012
I am Hispanic but here is THE TRUTH. America does NOT need any immigrants, legal or ILLEGAL. There are over 3 BILLION people in the world that make UNDER $2 per day and ANOTHER 3 BILLION who make UNDER $ 12 per day. America has seen it's middle class LOSE 39 % of the VALUE OF IT'S ASSETS but that also means SOME of the middle class have lost everything. America TAKES THE BEST & THE BRIGHTEST from the 3rd world. These 6 BILLION people would be BEST served if their talented people STAYED THERE & HELPED their own people. America can NOT TAKE in more people WHO TAKE JOBS & services FROM AMERICANS. Here is an eye opening video that will explain this. watch it before you comment on my truth
: http://www.wimp.com/immigrationpoverty/