Once Upon a Time in Texas, My (English-Speaking) Niece Hoped to Enter Pre-K...(*Vanity*)

Texas Education Agency ^ | 12 April 2006 | Texas Education Agency

[nmh]

"No, it isn't. But your rant about 'Spanish speaking students' was. "

I don't care what they speak outside of class. I am sick and tired of subsidizing BILINGUAL education which doesn't work. ENGLISH is the language of the U.S.. It's time "Spanish speaking" students learned it and in no way shape or form should an ENGLISH speaking STUDIENT take a back seat to people who can't speak ENGLISH.

"I'm personally more concerned about the folks down at the local mosques or the Katrina refugees than I am about the "Spanish speaking" folks who are trying to learn English."

Well good for you!

I'm NOT concerned about Spanish speaking students. It's UP to THEM to learn ENGLISH and NOT at the expense of ENGLISH speaking students. All my relatives LEARNED ENGLISH AT THEIR OWN EXPENSE. CAME HERE LEGALLY and ASSIMULATED.

As far as I am concerned ILLEGAL ALINES are no better than terrorists. It's just a different form of terrorism.

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

Desert Girl,
Pointed inquiries? I just asked you one question...to which your reply was that you don't post personal information on public forums. Perhaps that is just a new rule, is all I was pointing out.

And certainly, it is satisfying knowing that I was correct.

FReegards.
:)

[PAR35]

I am sick and tired of subsidizing BILINGUAL education which doesn't work.

If you would park your racism for a few minutes and do some research, you would learn that the pre-K programs are designed to get the kids where they will be able to function in an English language first grade - just like the pre-K programs for the English speaking kids are designed to get the physically and mentally handicapped students to where they can function in the regular first grade classrooms.

The programs you are attacking are designed to accomplish your goal of doing away with bilingual education.

[Desert_Girl]

And certainly, it is satisfying knowing that I was correct.

Yeah, I am certainly familiar with that feeling. I found it quite satisfying myself to realize that you really aren't interested in finding any real solutions to this complicated problem. You are just looking to froth people up a little bit, garner a little sympathy by showing the posters here how even your family has been so negatively impacted by those hated little brown babies.

Are all your passtimes so...fluffy?

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

I am doing no such thing, DG. Please, stop posting untruths and stick to the facts.

You know, if pre-k programs were granted money for English-speaking-only children to learn Spanish, the ACLU and LULAC and every liberal organization would be pounding on the doors of state education leaders, crying foul. *Especially* if the pre-k seats were giving preference to ESO children, limiting seats for SSO children. Imagine if the ESO children were given most of those seats.

Regardless of how you or I or anyone else feels about public education and placing children in preschool, the fact remains that no additional seats nor teachers are coming on board to make this its own special pilot program. Therein lies the problem as I see it.

My opinion stands firm...and you can yell all you want about English not being mandated by law as the official language of our country, however, it is law in many states. The legal people of this country are fed up with catering to lawbreaking immigrants and their American anchor children.

I am sorry that these children have been given parents who have chosen to make themselves illegal aliens. I am sorry that Mexico couldn't care less about its people. I am also sorry for all the poor people in Somalia, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, the Maldives, Uganda, Rwanda, Nigeria, Guatemala, and everywhere else in the world. I would love to help them all, but I can't. And the United States can't either.

Perhaps this pilot program should teach these children how to stand in a line appropriately. Then they can take that back into their homes and teach their parents one of the basic values we teach our children in the United States. Line up. Stand quietly. No pushing, shoving or cutting in line. Wait patiently for your turn.

And in case you haven't noticed, there are still poor people who are American citizens living in these United States. Over 37 million of our legal citizens are living at or below the poverty level. What audacity for foreigners to break into America, and demand attention, healthcare, schooling and amnesty while so many Americans live in poverty. I don't want to hear about the "rights" of illegals. It has been shoved at Americans for too long now, and there isn't any room left. Illegals should feel lucky that we are providing free transportation back to their homelands. Illegals are feeling none of the burden; Americans are. We're paying for it, and the time has come to end this.

The President mentioned last night that we are a nation of laws. The United States is great at making them, yessiree! And it's high-time we darn-well start enforcing the ones we already have .

[nmh]

Me: I am sick and tired of subsidizing BILINGUAL education which doesn't work.

You: If you would park your racism for a few minutes and do some research, you would learn that the pre-K programs are designed to get the kids where they will be able to function in an English language first grade - just like the pre-K programs for the English speaking kids are designed to get the physically and mentally handicapped students to where they can function in the regular first grade classrooms.

Me: I YOU would do YOUR RESERCH you'd know that LEGAL TAXPAYERS are PAYING for the ILLEGAL ALIEN children to get UP TO SPEED. We shouldn't HAVE this. Nor does this WORK. English immersion is WHAT WORKS. THAT has been PROVEN. Catering to English as a SECOND language has been PROVEN NOT TO WORK.

You: The programs you are attacking are designed to accomplish your goal of doing away with bilingual education.

Me: BILINGUAL education DOES NOT WORK. English immersion does work. Plus again, I don't want to subsidize the education of ILLEGAL ALIENS and especially with programs that do NOT WORK.

Good grief!

[nmh]

A few of numerous articles stating rather clearly that bilingual education doesn't work:

Bilingual Education Reform

In practice, many “transitional bilingual” education programs are actually neither. Instead, they are often segregated, inferior classrooms taught exclusively in students’ non-English, native languages, especially Spanish. It is not uncommon for students to remain in these programs for 5-6-7 years or even longer, and for students to “transition” to mainstream, English classes at a rate of less than 10 percent per year.

Much scientific evidence on human brain development indicates that younger children have a window of opportunity making it is easier for them to acquire a second language than older children. Bilingual education programs that stress non-English, native languages first often do not begin to teach written English until the fourth or fifth grade, and missing that critical cognitive window of opportunity.

In the first three years after California voters passed Proposition 227, effectively eliminating bilingual education and replacing it with structured English immersion, English learners in grades 2 through 8 demonstrated consistently strong gains in reading, math and language skills. The improvements continue to be most impressive among younger students. Second-grade English learners improved their reading scores 12 points over three years, and math scores in grades 2 through 6 actually showed the most improvement: up 17 points in second grade, 18 points in third, and at least 10 points in grades 4 through 6 over the 3 years.

Colorado elementary school students in bilingual education performed substantially and uniformly lower than their peers in English-as-a-Second-Language programs on 2002 Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP). The disparities were greatest among children in grades 3-4, the youngest grade levels assessed. Bilingual students at those levels tested “unsatisfactory” in reading by eight percentile points more than ESL students (see chart below). Writing scores followed a similar pattern.

Source: The Lexington Institute

http://www.alec.org/2/1/talking-points/bilingual-education.html

Since you have OBVIOULSY not done your research on this, read this on English immersion:

http://www.ceousa.org/pdfs/abc.pdf

---

TWO YEARS OF SUCCESS:

AN ANALYSIS OF CALIFORNIA TEST SCORES AFTER PROPOSITION 227

Despite all of the rhetoric decrying how California's non-English-speaking students would be harmed by the new English-immersion mandate, the end result is good news. After only two years of instruction, LEP students were not only not harmed by English immersion; they made significant gains in reading and writing in English as well as math. Not surprisingly, the greatest gains were made in school districts that chose the strictest interpretation of the initiative and implemented the most intensive English-immersion programs.

http://www.ceousa.org/READ/227rep.html

Perhaps you need to lose the "bigotry" and push for what works for LEGAL ALIENS.

[PAR35]

A few of numerous articles stating rather clearly that bilingual education doesn't work:

I never said it did. So you can argue with straw men all you want.

What I did say, based upon your original comment, was that you were a bigot. You have done nothing to disprove that.

[perfect stranger]

Last time I checked, the U.S.A. does not have an official language, english or otherwise.

Senate Passes Measure to Make English the National Language; 63- 34 Vote

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

I just heard this this morning and Desert Girl, you were on my mind.

[Desert_Girl]

I just heard this this morning and Desert Girl, you were on my mind.

Well, at least that's some progress. It shows you are thinking, anyway.

[kassie]

Oh I have plenty of thoughts. Just sat through my granddaughter's award ceremony yesterday in a Katy, Texas school. Go to America The Right Way thread to read how it went !

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

{{{{{{{{Kassie}}}}}}}}} It's gotten waaaaay out of hand. Why are we allowing our legislators to give to anchor children by taking away from legitimate Americans?

[Desert_Girl]

Now, now. Your temper is showing...