Immigration lawyer Roger Wolf speaks during a discussion by a panel of experts presented by Green Fields' junior class. In the background is class President Stephen Ott, who spearheaded Issue Day.

Jim Davis / Arizona Daily Star

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Debate and discussion are valued at Green Fields Country Day School, even when the topic is as controversial as illegal immigration.

Each year, the junior class at Green Fields, an independent college preparatory school, leads public discourse on a particular issue.

This year's juniors spent the last three months researching illegal immigration so the students could present an unbiased and balanced view of the hotly debated topic at Issue Day, which took place on Feb. 6.

"We thought about this issue in particular because it's very controversial," junior Laura Hook said. "It's very close to home as far as being in Tucson, Arizona. Kids our age don't really know about the issue. Our whole basis was to inform people."

The 15 members of the junior class assembled a panel of speakers, moderated panel discussions and had students write their own plans for changing immigration policy.

Issue Day is student-driven and is intended to show the students that learning is broader than the classrooms and the Green Fields campus.

"It's very important for a school to provide a platform for, and then to facilitate, societal debate and discussion," said Head of School Deac Etherington.

"As educators, it's critical we empower students to organize and then frame that discussion in a way that respects all points of view."

Green Fields eighth-graders and high school students participated in Issue Day. They learned about the history of immigration to the United States, the motivation and risks of illegally entering, and why people choose to cross illegally rather than legally.

Speakers included Raquel Rubio-Goldsmith, an adjunct professor at the University of Arizona's Mexican American Studies and Research Center; Florencio Zaragoza, who is active in the community; Roger Wolf, an immigration lawyer; Judith Gans, who directs the Immigration Policy Program at the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy at the UA; and Charles Bowden, a non-fiction author, journalist and essayist.

Zaragoza, who has had a professional and political career in Mexico, noted that 40 percent of Mexico's population lives in poverty, and most of the wealth is concentrated in about 10 percent of the population.

He said most of those who enter the United States illegally do so to survive.

"The Mexican migrant comes here for survival — for his survival and the survival of his family," Zaragoza said.

Gans' insight was an economic one, as she explained how competing workers, such as those in the construction industry, don't benefit when an illegal immigrant will work for a lower wage.

Gans wanted the students to understand that the issue of immigration is complicated, and people can be on different sides for different reasons.

Etherington agrees and trusts that his students will use their judgment to make sure intellectual diversity and tolerance are celebrated at Green Fields, 6000 N. Camino de la Tierra.

"When there is a lot of shouting out there in the larger world, to me that is a sign that there is very little listening," Etherington said. "I would like to think our kids leave here understanding that."

The students offered some solutions to the illegal-immigration problem.

Some suggested a guest-worker program, saying it's not realistic to send back the millions of illegal immigrants living and working in the United States.

Others said the U.S. and Mexico should work together to solve the program.

More importantly, the student said, people need to be informed.

"It's really important that everybody, at least in our community, has a good sense of what's going on," junior John Schaffner said.

Junior class President Stephen Ott, who spearheaded Issue Day, said he hoped students learned enough to question the constant stream of news and rhetoric concerning illegal immigration.

Ott said he was more informed after Issue Day and was able to put issues into perspective.

"I thought it was interesting looking at how politics depict immigration," he said. "The majority of the rhetoric you hear is not necessarily accurate but more of an opinion — using statistics to justify personal opinions."