As children, we were told that if you worked hard, you could be anything you wanted to be. That's what has been key in molding the American character. It was taught by parents and teachers throughout the land.

Parents still encourage their children to dream. They cultivate the innate imagination and creativity that each child possesses and that is fostered by caring teachers. It is what has made America the land of opportunity, where innovation has made our economy flourish. It is an ethos that is reinvigorated by new immigrants who are willing to dream and work for a better tomorrow and who also tell their children to work hard and get an education.

But now, some Utah state legislators are contemplating legislation that would say to some, "You can study and work hard, but don't get your hopes up because you can only go so far. Besides, some of you are more worthy than others." The legislation calls for changing the law that now allows undocumented students who have lived in Utah for the major part of their childhood and graduated from our schools to pay the same tuition as all Utah residents. The legislation is tantamount to swatting a fly with a hammer. Last year, it affected only 169 students. Furthermore, it thwarts higher education's efforts to reach out to minorities.

The legislation seems to be motivated by the anti-Mexican immigrant sentiment brought about by illegal immigration and the fear after 9/11. And I say Mexican because, in the eyes of those less discerning, we are all alike; they seem not to know or care that there are other Latin American countries south of the border. In this case, they don't discriminate.

Ultimately, the debate is not about money or numbers, rather about moral values and who we are as a people.

And therein lies the challenge for legislators who want to look after the interest of the state rather than look for quick political fixes. To rescind the existing in-state tuition law to solve a minor problem would trigger a host of unintended and unfortunate consequences. It becomes a declaration of legislative intent that minority students who graduated from our public schools and worked hard to go on to higher education are denied those hopes simply because their parents brought them to Utah at an early age. It sends a chilling message to other minority students, including most who are U.S. citizens, that there is no use in trying. To them, they see no difference; they are all minorities and there is no hope.

The legislative change contemplated comes at a time when the nation is experiencing a workforce crisis, a slow-growing, aging and less-skilled workforce. Utah, however, has a younger population with a growing Hispanic component where the median age is about 25 years. That is the new face of our nation's workforce and one of Utah's greatest untapped resources that we cannot afford to waste. We can continue to blame the Washington politicians and wait for them to fix our broken immigration laws, or we can do what Utahns have always done — continue to educate all our children and let them believe that they can be anything they want to be.

All they need is opportunity and hope.

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Utah native John Florez has founded several Hispanic civil rights organizations and has served on the staff of Sen. Orrin Hatch and on more than 45 state, local and volunteer boards. He also has been deputy assistant secretary of labor. E-mail: jdflorez@comcast.net