“The Spanish taught in schools is no the same Spanish the illegals speak. It is Castillian, the Spanish of Spain, not of Latin America. The Hispanic kids have as hard a time with it as ghetto kids have with the English taught in schools.”
Oh how I wish this were so.....It should be though.
If it’s taught by “wise-latina’s”, I guarantee you it’s some form of New World dialect.
No two countries speak it the same. I love using “vosotros” instead of “nosotros” and throwing everybody for a ride. Most don’t understand it. My wife doesn’t understand half of what I say and she’s Cuban.
O rubbish! The Spanish taught in American Schools is usually (A) Total Nonsense ... assuring that no American will ever be able to find a bathroom or a glass of water in ANY Spanish-speaking country. (B) is of course, just as dumbed-down as any other post-1960 High School course.
Furthermore, due to Affirmative Action many "Hispanic" Spanish teachers from god-knows-what-Third World Hellholes, speak pretty damn bad Spanish and even worse English.
In ye hoary olden days, Spanish Class was where one found the students thought to be moderately endowed ... but not dumb. The sharper chisels in the school toolbox were directed to French and German. Of course, in those days, Latin was also taught ... even mandatory in the better outfits.
In regard to this Castilian/Latin American thing: Spanish was the first European Language to have standard grammar and spelling, and was designed purposely by royal decree to make the baby steps very easy ... after all it had to be taught to Incas, Aztecs, etc. very fast in order to (1) convert'em to save their souls, and (2) to get more work out of'em. Castilian Spanish is understood everywhere (and respected), the period of unintelligibility is very short ... say 5 minutes?
Also note that even the most uneducated Spanish speakers are apt to use very sophisticated and quite correct grammar. Weird. No equivalent "I-me" mixup. No "was-were" mistakes. No "has ran, or has went" stuff ... as one hears every day among our natives ... even on TV!
¡Que te vayas con Diós. Te absolvo!
I can’t speak for anywhere else, but I do know the Spanish being taught in the local public high school is the same as I was taught in Catholic high school in the 70s. The French my daughter is being taught is also the same as I took in HS.