Last week the House OK'd an amendment to the immigration bill giving states the option to deny public schooling to the children of illegal immigrants.

The argument is that it is costing the individual states' taxpayers too much money to educate the children of illegal immigrants.

But how much is it going to cost when these children are grown and still living in the United States without an education?

It is unlikely they will leave and go to the country their parents are from. It is not their choice to be born or brought into this country, but they are the ones being punished.

With no education, their chances of a decent life are reduced to almost nothing. If they are not in school, they will be out on the streets. I do not believe that public schools should act as a baby sitter, but I think it is better for them to be learning in a school than learning alternative ways to get by on the streets.

It may save money as far as public schools are concerned, or it may cost more money in the long run when the crime rate rises because these kids are not in school.

If these children are educated, then they can grow up and have the chance to graduate high school and possibly college. Without an education, these children have no chance. No chance to learn to read and write, to understand numbers and to understand how much they are getting paid.

With no education or chance to learn English, they will be exploited, more so than already occurs. If someone cannot read a newspaper or a book to explain that what they are earning is far below minimum wage, or that their working conditions are far below the standards allowed by law, then how can these people defend themselves?

Maybe that is why this is happening. To have a new generation of uneducated slaves to work, with no questions asked, because they do not know the language and have no advocates.

Speaker Newt Gingrich said that by denying education, the influx of people to this country will lessen. What it really will do is decrease the amount of immigration by a very, very small percentage and increase the numbers of kids on the street. Many time s when people come here illegally from another country, it is for survival, not to drain money that is given to the education system.

In an interview with SalomĒn Baldenegro, assistant dean of Chicano/Hispano student affairs, I asked him if he thought this part of the bill was going to pass. His answer was an unsettling yes.

He said if he had been asked this question six years ago, he never would have thought something like this could happen. But the climate has changed in this country.

"We are going to be creating and perpetuating an underclass," he said. "No one will be able to say these people are an unemployed underclass because they want to be."

If Americans are led to believe that illegal immigrants are sucking the economy dry and are told to report children and their parents that they believe are undocumented, it is going to overflow to those American citizens that could be believed to be in th is country illegally. The first time someone is turned in wrongly is when trouble starts.

What does an illegal immigrant look like? Like everyone else. This will provide an open door to discriminate against those who do not look like "American citizens."

I cannot think of one reason why denying education to a child is anything but disgraceful and completely un-American. In grade school, I thought that the United States was the defender of good and all the other propaganda in our history books. Then I lear ned what we did to Native Americans, Mexicans and African Americans. Will my children look back on what we are doing to the children of illegal immigrants and think the same thing?

Yvonne Condes is a journalism senior and Wildcat assistant news editor.