Yes, but they were here legally and did not drain our economy via free medical care, free education, and welfare.
There's a place for bilingual education as a stopgap, but only as a path to full English fluency. Then, unlike now, no one saw refusing to learn English as some sort of cultural identity preservation, they saw it as glupi
-Eric
Yeah, language is a non-issue for me. Children learn language when they’re young. We pick up vocabulary through absorption and no one really analyzes what they’re saying or writing when speaking in their natural tongue.
We can try to teach people second languages later in life, be it immigrants or our own native students learning a second language in high school, but it ends up being broken and survivalist. Our high school students don’t graduate fluent in Spanish and French, and we don’t really expect them to even though we force them to take the classes.
To speak a language WELL, you need to learn it before age 8 OR spent a LOOOOT of time in the culture where it dominates. I have immigrant relatives that can run their own business, but even 30 years into living in America, you can tell their language isn’t anywhere as good as a native. Their kids of course, speak Hollywood-accent English like anyone else who grew up on TV in America.
Funny; I don’t remember “Press 1 for English, press 2 for Polish” on phones in my neighborhood; nor do I remember anyone protesting for ballots or driving instruction in Polish. These Hispanic types can bite the bullet and learn the language or go back home.
Nothing odd about it. The governor was suggesting that immigrants to this country learn to speak, read and write in two (or more) languages—just so long as one of them is English.
That Schwarzenegger himself learned English when he came here lends credibility to his comments. He speaks from experience.
Bush and the GOP Congress drastically cut back on funds for bilingual ed, virtually eliminating it, although some states continued to fund it themselves. California stopped it except for particular situations. I have a very liberal relative who is an elementary teacher out there, and she was very upset about it - but then a year later, she told me that she was really surprised, but now that they'd gotten rid of the bilingual program, the Hispanic kids were learning English, adapting to the US, and getting along with the non-Hispanic kids a lot better! I didn't say "I told you so," but it was sure tempting...
CALL! CALL! CALL! CALL! AND KEEP CALLING TILL THE LINES FRY!
WRITE! WRITE! WRITE! WRITE! TILL YOU RUN OUT OF INK IN YOUR PEN!
Bombard the Democrats as well, especially the ones that ran on an anti illegal immigration plank and the ones in marginal districts who could be vulnerable. keep pounding on them. This is a bipartisan issue not a Conservative or Liberal issue BUT AN AMERICAN issue.