¿Habla Español? Your kids may soon

The Skagit Valley Herald ^ | 12/01/2003 | Steve Howie

[MontN]

¿Habla Español? Your kids may soon
By STEVE HOWIE

MOUNT VERNON — The school district is studying the possibility of converting one or more of its six elementary schools into dual language programs where the day is divided between lessons in Spanish and English for all students.

"Research says that's the best delivery model," Superintendent Mack Armstrong said. "Then the question is, Why wouldn't we do it?"

...

Armstrong's enthusiasm for the idea follows a visit to the district two weeks ago by Richard Gomez, bilingual education director for the state education department in Olympia.

In the last three years, Gomez has spearheaded efforts to create 17 dual language schools in the state, primarily in eastern Washington. In his previous job in Texas, he helped establish 50 of the schools.

Click here for the whole enchilada...

[JusPasenThru]

I mean, Free Republic.

[henderson field]

German is a far more practical language than Spanish. The likelihood of using German in business or with a trading partner is vastly greater than with Spanish. But, again, let's make the kids literate in our nation's language - English - before moving on to a foreign language. Unfortunately, most of the people speaking Spanish are not even literate in that language.

[luvbach1]

This is a good way to make the chidren deficient in both languages. This is just what has happened to children forced into bi-lingual classes( sometimes their parents are talked into it against their better judgement) in California.

[FITZ]

You also have to consider that the native Spanish speaking teacher isn't likely to be able to teach the "hard" courses, so art will be taught in Spanish and math would be taught in English. Everyone --- even hispanics -- tells me to get my kid out of dual-language before 5th grade because the quality of the teacher for half their class isn't up to standards.

[ClintonBeGone]

FYI - ¡El alimento mexicano me da el gas!

[ClintonBeGone]

Solamente un tonto temería un idioma extranjero.

[FITZ]

I learned Spanish --- but I studied it in Mexico. No one here makes any more money for having learned Spanish. The lower paying jobs go to the Spanish speakers --- you don't need Spanish --- not even here to work the jobs that require a higher education --- except welfare workers.

The whole purpose of Spanish is so that the immigrants can keep their culture, kids of other ancestry pick up on that --- and resent being forced to keep someone else's culture. I know kids from New Mexico with Spanish last names who were forced to study Spanish after they learned English at home and said they didn't like the language --- force doesn't really work.

[henderson field]

German is not only spoken in Germany, but in the finance centers of Switzerland, the auto plants of Northern Italy,Austria, Lichtenstein, Alsance-Lorain and border towns in France. Dutch and Flemish (Belgium) are very close, as are the Scandanavian languages. Of course German is spoken widely in South America too. As for learning Chinese, you may align with them if you wish. Which side are you on, anyway?

[FITZ]

No one is saying not to learn a foreign language --- universities used to require Latin or Greek ---- learn a foreign language ---- but choose for yourself which you'd like to learn for your own reasons. Skip the politically correct reasons --- which is what we're seeing here.

[MontN]

Latin is the root language of many languages and to undersand Latin helps an educated person to understand other languages. It also helps us to understand unfamilar words in English. If High School graduates were proficient in Latin, scores would be much higher on the SATs.

[FITZ]

To me it would depend on your major --- German, Russian, Japanese, French would be good if you're studying science or math. If you major in Social Work, obviously Spanish should be your choice. Chinese, Japanese, or German or others for International trade. If you're into certain foreign literature --- then you'd pick the appropriate language.

[AnAmericanMother]

The likelihood of using German in business or with a trading partner is vastly greater than with Spanish.

I disagree. I never had a German client who didn't speak faultless English. My German is pretty good but very provincial (western Austria), we would exchange courtesies in German but when we talked turkey it was always in English.

On the other hand, I did have a client who only spoke Italian . . . how we got that client is a story in itself. Luckily he was a very nice fellow, so I would speak Latin with Italian endings, he would laugh at me, and we managed to work out an understanding. We won his case for him, too, so he was very pleased despite my deficiencies (I had my dad, who is fluent in Florentine Italian thanks to WWII, help me compose a nice report/thank you letter . . . . )

[FITZ]

To me the best way to learn a foreign language is to go to a country that speaks it and learn it the immersion way. An hour or two every day doesn't work well and takes years. You can learn in just a couple weeks just being around only those who speak that language and you pick it up very quickly that way.

[Lexinom]

On the West Coat (Seattle and San Francisco) you can find stations in various Asian dialects. In Minnesota I would not be surprised to find a smattering of Hmong and Russian stations.

The fact that non-English speaking Mexican immigrants are here (in many cases illegally) does not, to my thinking, provide sufficient sanction to force my daughter to learn Spanish or else force me to spend extra money to send her to a private school where she can learn Greek, Latin, or German (far more useful in the literary arts and hard sciences). I don't care if they have 200 stations: let them send their kids to private Spanish schools; don't make the rest of us pay for it and thereby reward illegal immigration in the process.

[Welsh Rabbit]

"Research says that's the best delivery model," Superintendent Mack Armstrong said. "Then the question is, Why wouldn't we do it?"

What crap. This guy comes off like a bad salesman, "Research indidates that if current trends continue, the value of this land will most likely double, even triple in the next five years. The question is, can you afford not to buy these acres?" The schools are already failing at teaching Spanish speaking kids English, why would they be any better at teaching English speaking kids Spanish? Why should our kids have to learn Spanish anyways? I guess this superintendent thinks all cultures are equal and American kids would benefit greatly if they could understand the programs on Telemundo. The truth is, our way is superior. This is proved by the simple observation that millions and millions have fled north of the border because their societies failed them, not the other way around. These educators are hurting the ones they're trying to help the most. Intergration works, multiculturalism doesn't.

[FITZ]

That's true of the educated class in Mexico too ---- English is the language of international trade and much else.

[ClintonBeGone]

I just find it disingenuous for someone to use the language as a substitute for the real target - the people that speak spanish.

[ezo4]

¿Habla Español? = nope... dont really care to

[marron]

Here is what happens, in my opinion.

Culture is inspired, informed, by certain higher values (well, if we are fortunate). Whatever your cultural background, whatever there is to admire in it is informed by some higher value that works itself out over time in the cultural life of a people.

When you love what is good in your culture, it is easy to focus on the cultural expression of those values rather than the values themselves. That is human. There is nothing sinister about that. What is toxic, and which also happens in every culture, is to seek to divorce the culture from the higher value by focusing exclusively on the culture.

An example would be Mussolini focusing on Roman-ness, and wrapping himself in Italian culture as a way of denying the effects of 1900 years of Christian tradition in molding whatever there was to admire about Italian culture. I see it in leftists in Latin America who associate themselves with common cultural icons in order to hide the fact that they don't believe in the values that formed whatever is decent at the heart of those cultures.

The academic, left-oriented drive for "authenticity" is usually a way of shifting the focus away from the higher values by focusing on the culture itself.

Leftists in the US occasionally do it, laying on thick the "good-old-boy" mannerisms to hide the fact that they do not believe in the things most good-old-boys believe in. People become experts on making hand-built banjos to hide or compensate for the fact that they despise what traditional America stands for.

America will be lost, not because Mexicans cross the border, but because people who despise the higher values we believe in are the ones teaching our kids. The barbarians at the gate, the teeming masses who do not believe in the founding principles of our nation, are the kids graduating from the average high school or college. Thats the problem.

The average Mexican crossing the border probably has a better idea what America is about than the average kid lining up to get his diploma.

[torchthemummy]

I have no problem with requiring kids to take a foreign language - the choice should be theirs with languages offered based on interest.

That being said, the english language is the glue as an earlier poster said. I've always compared it to Microsoft Windows. Sure there are some here that don't like the marketshare of Microsoft but imagine if we all had to contend with 50 different operating systems - it would be a nightmare. Microsoft, like english, is the uniting language of computers. It's the actual cpu's, modems, hard disks etc. that allows one to customize their machine to their specifications. The same with english - use a uniting language so one can interact with most everyone, then take that language that allowed a unified education( minus the pc-correct crap)which in turn allows most every student to then take advantage of all the opportunities this great country allows (choose your own peripherals/configuration)

One last thought. Say within a school some classes use Apple-based computers for one subject and PC-based computers for other subject. Eventually kids will decide on their preference for one operating system or the other, thereafter progressing in classes that utilize their favored operating system while falling behind in classes that utilize their non-favored operating system. Soon you would find cafeteria tables with apple-only or pc-only students. Linux and other open-source kids would be ostracized, therefore withdrawing from as much social contact. Operating system gangs would form. Pc students would try to get the faculty to force open membership in the apple clubs, therefore overwhelming the membership with their numbers then voting the apple students out of the club they started (sound familiar).

Enough rambling....