Posted on 06/10/2006 4:42:22 PM PDT by Poundstone
Yesterday, a friend told me that his brother, who is a high school teacher in Phoenix, was going to spend a month in Mexico this summer in an "intensive immersion" program to learn Spanish. He said his brother was doing this to comply with a new requirement from the state of Arizona that he be qualified to teach in a language other than English. He said the new requirement (apparently the result of a law passed by the Arizona state legislature) is designed to force the teaching of all subjects taught in Arizona public schools in Spanish as well as English.
My friend said his brother thinks the new requirement is insane and un-American, but he has no choice but to either comply or lose his job.
Anyone from Arizona know what's going on?
Nothing I can find on the web. I suspect it's one of those 'my brother's friend' stories.
Whoops! Or in this case, 'my friend's brother'.
The Bilingual Education Act of 1968 provides federal funding to schools to provide education in native languages. The Supreme Court, in the 1974 case Lau v. Nichols, said that school districts must take "affirmative steps" to provide bilingual education. So this sort of thing has been in place for 30 years or more. The degree to which it is done has escaped notice until now - and school administrators have been successful at hiding it for fear of provoking a hostile reaction from taxpayers.
I'd learn Gaelic, Polish, or any language other than Spanish and tell them, "Ok, I can teach in a language other than English now"!
I wonder if ebonics counts (sorry, couldn't help that one..lol)
I'm certain it's one of those, "Unwritten laws". One of those oddball little twists. If one doesn't know Spanish, then you're just not going to get hired as a teacher. I'm sure this will go over like a lead balloon, and those doing the hiring will say, "Oh no, no, no, a thousand times no. But facts are facts. And if you is just an American and not familiar with El Spanisho language, then you's his-tor-y. And I'll do some venting, and say what a sucky bunch of employers exist to make such a requirement. And I wouldn't teach, if you paid me. So there! And it's no wonder schools are putting out such ridiculous excuses for educated children. Teachers aren't even allowed to be anything more than little Mexican soldiers. Under those circumstances, teaching sucks. But, Arizona is gonna be turned over to Mexico, if the cowards who are said to be business leaders, keep on doing nothing about this ridiculous state of affairs since we have such a sorry govenor. There, I've said my peace...
Interesting news story. Looks like this program, undertaken in close cooperation with "the Mexican Consul General's office," is designed to further the Hispanicization of Arizona. As such, it is yet a further surrender of American sovereignty.
I should add to my original story that my friend reports his brother says that Arizona schools aren't allowed to question a new student as to his/her immigration status. Yet another insanity.
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