The main audience for my paper can be divided into two groups. Firstly, I want to address students that may not be familiar with the issue and tell them why it is important. Secondly, I want to address fellow international students and also tell them why this is an important issue, speaking about their fundamental rights. The background needed to understand my problem is therefore related to the issues of international students in the U.S.A. A background of the current laws of the U.S.A. regarding international students is also important, for example, the official laws of the U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Service which talks about these rules. (source: USIC, 2014) Perhaps some non-international students may not care about the issue. I will need to motivate them to care by building empathy and showing why international students should have the same rights to work off-campus as non-international students, since this can be considered to be an issue of discrimination. Therefore, I can motivate them to caring by appealing to basic principles of human rights. I need to tell fellow international students also to care about this issue because it is basically about caring about their own rights.
I cannot guess exactly how students will react. Some will perhaps feel that this is discriminatory practice and will agree with me. Other students might say that international students can work on campus and that is enough. I need to show them that such employment laws are discriminatory and prejudiced. I need to appeal to issues of human rights and democracy.
Some students may feel uncomfortable because they perhaps might think this is another instance of foreign students possibly taking jobs from American students. They will see my proposal therefore as competition. In turn, the cost they may incur by acting on my proposal is seeing the off-campus job market for American students now even more difficult to enter because of competition from international students.
There are many possible objections that can be raised. For example, as mentioned, some objectors may state that international students can already work on-campus jobs and that is sufficient. For example, the UTSA (University Career Center, 2014) has a list of on-campus jobs. I will have to show why working off-campus jobs are legally and morally correct. Therefore, I can make use of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, which clearly states in Article 23 that “everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment.” (United Nations Declaration of Human Rights) Limiting international students is a case of limiting free choice of employment and therefore a violation of international human rights law.
My proposal matters because it is about fairness, equality and human rights.
U.S. labor law needs to become “closer to international standards.”(Human
Rights Watch, 2009) One way Americans can realize this aim is to
support my proposal and therefore promote a truly fair, open and democratic
society.
- Human Rights Watch. “The Employee Free Choice Act: A Human Rights Imperative.”
Washington DC: Human Rights Watch, January 2009. - University Career Center. “UTSA Career Center.” Retrieved March 30 at
http://utsa.edu/careercenter/ - U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. “Students and Employment.” Washington,
DC: UCIS, 2014. Retrieved 30 March, 2014 at: http://www.uscis.gov/working-
united-states/students-and-exchange-visitors/students-and-employment
United Nations. Human Rights Division. Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 1998.
