More than 14,000 California high school graduates can’t work: This is a tragic waste of talent

In 2011, shortly before I graduated from Sonoma State University, I broke down in tears in my sociology professor’s office. She had generously gathered information for me about graduate programs in social work and career paths in teaching and counseling. 

But I knew there was no point in applying because I was undocumented. I’d come to America from Mexico when I was four, so my parents could work the oyster farms near Pt. Reyes Station, north of San Francisco. Any teaching credential program...