My GED Hotline GED Practice Test

Since we are all immigrants to this land called America, we often praise the contributions of all immigrants in our speeches, our conversations, and in our writings. People only have limited praise of the immigrant contribution, because this is a different immigration from the others. This is a different world we live in and it started long before the attacks on the World Trade Center.

Let me begin by telling some facts that I came across about the Jewish people. A Roper Poll taken in 1939 showed that 10 percent of Americans wanted Jews to be deported and 53 percent wanted the Jews to be restricted. Two thirds of our nation was anti-Semitic. World War II broke out two years later and fifty percent of all Jewish males between the ages of 18 and 40 joined the Armed Forces. It has been estimated that US immigration policies prevented up to 200,000 lives to be saved during World War II. (see Breckinridge Long). Both the Jewish and Hispanic worlds must know this history and we have to work together, because the crisis in the United States is a universal crisis that Jews and others know all too well, and we must use that information to find solutions to new problems (giving justice to undocumented immigrants in the future).

The GED began in 1943 and it was only for people in the military. Jews and others who left high school (many lied about their age to gain entry to the military) were taking the GED to complete their high school education and there was patriotism surrounding the GED. The GED was reserved for the military until 1966 when it began to affect civilians. The GED is one of the two essential components that are required for the success of the Hispanic community to take place today. The other component is “stay in school.” Fourteen million Hispanic adults, now, do not have a high school diploma (this could be more than one of every two adults) and this is hurting family life. Every Hispanic family member needs a diploma to make Hispanics more competitive. The great Jewish immigration, sometimes called the “New Immigration” really ended around 1924, a generation before the start of World War II. There was no GED for Jews and other Americans in those days and there was huge desertion from school during the Great Depression (Henry Kissinger earned a GED). My dad used to wheel a heavy push cart from Brooklyn to Queens in the snow to earn money for his parents and family to survive. So many people survived on hard work for decades and they had little education. This sounds familiar to many Hispanics, but education is much more vital to the success of Americans today than it was in 1943. That is why Hispanics must be mobilized the way Jews were who fought during World War II were. By taking GED training directly to the enlisted men, it helped people who rose high in our society. We must aggressively help Hispanics with GED by providing new GED programs.

The Hispanic community remains in shock fifty years after the great arrival of Puerto Ricans to the mainland. Yes there are anti-immigrant feelings that pervade our country and people strongly and mildly object to the use of Spanish in phone messages, in stores, and in conducting government business. It is obvious that from the 1970’s on as Mexicans and Colombians and other South Americans came here, Dominicans and Salvadorans in huge numbers, and others from Central America, the size of those immigrations dwarfed the immigration of Jews (there are only about 6 million Jews in the United States). Jewish businesses really disappeared in most neighborhoods to be replaced by Hispanic business owners. Hispanic businesses continue to grow at a record setting pace. That may be great for the owners, but what affect does it have on the assimilation of Hispanics? The GED is no longer a patriotic thing and Hispanics are denied equal protection under law to be tested on the GED in Spanish in various states and federal money cannot be used for Spanish GED programs. Patriotism has vanished in favor of discrimination and keeping state budget costs low. Low taxation is the new patriotism.

I call upon all people and my Jewish friends in particular to think about our past, to learn from one of the worst eras of history, and to join with me in the promotion of the education of the Hispanic community (citizens, residents, and undocumented). We can build a better world together, a better America. And let us keep modern day Breckinridge Longs away from key governmental posts. Tear down the walls, let families be united (even families that crossed our southern borders which is something we Jews should have done for our families during the Holocaust), and create future sensible immigration policies that benefit us all.

MARTIN N. DANENBERG
7 BLAZER DRIVE
ISLANDIA, 11749
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