Gateway Newspapers invited a panel of eight residents from the East Suburbs recently to exchange ideas about citizenship and immigration.

If there was one thread that wove through the 90-minute discussion, it was that education is important, not only to understanding the political process but to assuring that the country has a future pool of candidates to serve and native workers to fill jobs.

"Schools give you a way to think...to make the best choices," said Florence Biscaras of Forest Hills, a native of France who became an American citizen last year.

The panel began the evening by taking a short quiz with sample questions used by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to test immigrants applying for citizenship. As a whole, the group got an average of 75 percent of the answers correct.

The most troublesome questions were naming the 13 original states and knowing that the U.S. Capitol is where Congress convenes, that there are 27 amendments to the Constitution and that the Constitution is the supreme law of the United States.

Several panelists felt the question, "What is the most important right granted to U.S. citizens?," was open to personal interpretation, even though the desired answer is "the right to vote."

Yet voter apathy abounds. For all the non-voters, those who vote without educating themselves about the candidates or who vote straight-party tickets also concern the panelists.

"If you don't know the issues, stay at home," said Becky Fenoglietto of Penn Hills, an attorney. "An ignorant voter is more dangerous than an apathetic non-voter."

A few panelists felt that candidates who use local elected offices as a stepping stone to higher office or who come in with personal agendas are just as bad for the process. Education on how the political system works can come early.

Laura Liebmann, a former Woodland Hills School Board member who is an outreach social worker for UPMC, recalled that as a child, her son, Tyler, asked to address the board about class size after threatened cutbacks.

Tyler's presentation drew a standing ovation from about 300 people at a public meeting. He told Liebmann, "You know, Mom, I never knew what you did before. I'll help you run again."

When the discussion switched to immigration, the group considered whether the United States should adopt English as its official language. Biscaras questioned whether government should dictate the language but Liebmann, who works with Russian immigrants who want to be Americanized, said English should be the primary language.

English is the language of global business, noted Ed Nicholson of Monroeville, a two-time candidate for the state House of Representa-tives who is a supportive service technician at Community College of Allegheny County-Boyce Campus and teaches at Greater Works Outreach Bible School.

The panelists were asked what specific measures the federal government should take to reduce the number of illegal immigrants, both entering the country and already here. But coming up with answers wasn't easy.

Fenoglietto said those in western Pennsylvania don't sense the urgency in dealing with the issue as do citizens in the states that border Mexico. Liebmann said that Canadi-ans aren't coming in illegally so perhaps a solution is for the United States to help Mexico become more financially stable.

America is losing its painters, roofers, electricians and plumbers -- jobs that illegal immigrants are more than happy to fill, said Sara Werner of Penn Township, a former chamber of commerce executive director and school board member in Penn Hills.

Part of the problem with public education is the notion that everyone should go to college, said Mary Bach of Murrysville, a nationally-recognized consumer advocate and Franklin Regional School Board member.

"So many people have the wrong idea about these very valuable trades," said Bach, who is on the board of Northern Westmoreland County Area Vocational Technical School.

Vo-tech programs are losing ground, even though many of those careers pay more than college-level jobs.

Leyland Beckam, a 2007 graduate of Penn Hills High School who plans to study communications at Slippery Rock University, said Penn Hills is cutting its graphic arts and horticulture programs next year.

The country, though, still needs gardeners, hotel service personnel and other "less glamorous jobs," Biscaras said. Those jobs don't have "the stigma" to immigrants who are more focused on earning money, she said.

"Our values are skewed," said Bach, noting that immigrants have an old-fashioned work ethic.

"Education is the best investment we can make in our future," Hrivnak said.

But Werner and Liebmann said school boards have become too focused on political issues rather than educational ones.

"Football is bigger than education," Beckam said.

Hrivnak looked back to citizens in 1940s and 1950s America. "There was a sense of obligation and self-responsibility, not only to one's self, but to one's fellow man."

In this day of, as Nicholson puts it, "six-packs and cable television," many people don't have the sense of awe in what America represents -- much less their rights and responsibilities as citizens.

Bach said she was "stunned" leading an AARP trip to Harrisburg how the majority of those on the trip had never been to the state capital.

Nicholson said he felt lucky to once work in the state Capitol building, especially when he looked up at the dome in the House chambers. He also felt the "ghosts" that walked there -- the citizens who had gone before as they performed their public duty in state government.

"Those are the shoes we're supposed to be filling," he said.