Language barrier limits Latino students’ parents school involvement

examiner.com Washington, DC ^ | Jun 4, 2007 3:00 AM | Daniel Fowler,

[Jimmy Valentine's brother]

Prince George’s County - The language barrier keeps some Latino parents from being involved in their children’s education at some Prince George’s County public schools, according to a recent report.

The report, completed last fall, is based on data from specifically targeted schools with high Latino populations and was part of a collaborative effort involving the University of Maryland, College Park and the Prince George’s school system.

SNIP

In terms of the language barrier, there are two issues, according to the report: “parents’ lack of English skills and the schools’ lack of bilingual personnel.” In addition, Johnson said, another interesting finding was that when schools sent home messages in Spanish, many Latino parents couldn’t read them.

SNIP

According to schools spokesman John White, new superintendent John Deasy has implemented a plan for each of the system’s 205 schools to have parent liaisons by the 2008-09 school year. There were 110 parent liaisons this year.

“The goal is to have parent liaisons in every school and to have a bilingual liaison [where] needed,” White said.

[Jimmy Valentine's brother]

Not only are these Latino imigrants unable to communicate in English but they are also illiterate in their native tongue.

Someone remind me again about illegal immigration being a victimless crime. Taxpayers are victims every day.

[expatguy]

Can we bring back the "melting pot" yet and do away with all this "diversity is our strengh" crap?

An American Expat in Southeast Asia

[caseinpoint]

I disagree with the attitude that the schools should provide bilingual liaisons. First, it smacks of a full-employment policy for latinos but even more it is setting a bad precedent. Will the school district then have to provide precious monies to provide Cambodian, or Hmong, or Cantonese, or Arabic or, ad infinitum? Secondly, those who choose to come to a country where they cannot communicate need to deal with the inconvenience as immigrants did in the past: they need to bring a translator with them. That reinforces the importance of learning the native language and further, and more importantly, makes heroes of their friends and neighbors who do assimilate into the dominant culture. Whereas today, because immigrants don’t have to rely on those who can move in both cultures, the assimilated are considered “traitors” to their original culture. We don’t need to spend tax money to make it easier for immigrants who refuse to assimilate. We need to do everything we can to encourage assimilation.

[Red6]

If you want to see your tax dollars at work go to Parkland Memorial Hospital. A “non life threatening” issue in the emergency room has a waiting time of over 22 hours! MOST the people there are uninsured and the emergency room has become a primary care facility, but what the liberal won’t tell you when he talks about national health care is that these people are largely illegals! People who are not paying for their health care and YOUR insurance, copay/deductible and taxes are paying for. Bottom line, those costs are rolled over to the tax payer and those with insurance. But do you think the big brains at MSNBC or CBS will do a politically incorrect story on a sensitive subject like that?

http://www.parklandhospital.com/

[PhiKapMom]

This is Bravo Sierra. When we lived in Texas and had some families come to our town that their Dad’s were part of some diplomatic missions (here legally) in San Antonio or business people sent here for business, their parents participated in school activities with no problems.

Now illegals are a different — not only do they not speak English, they have no intention of learning. I didn’t even know they were illegal until I asked one day why the parents didn’t come to parent conferences and was told they lived on the big ranch which they didn’t leave for fear of being deported.

Would hate to think what the dollar cost is to this Country for illegals. When we moved, I always had to provide a copy of my children’s birth certificate and shot record when they changed schools, why don’t they? How do they get around the law? I registered our three children in Boerne at the same time a family from Venzuela were registering two children in school and they had to provide proof of birth, passport, residency status and shot record before they could register. What happened to all of that? How can you have residency status if you are here illegally and get registered in school?

[upchuck]

The language barrier keeps some Latino parents from being involved in their children’s education at some Prince George’s County public schools, according to a recent report.

The report, completed last fall, is based on data from specifically targeted schools with high Latino populations and was part of a collaborative effort involving the University of Maryland, College Park and the Prince George’s school system.

Thanks for posting this 'bro.

Who has that "Captain Common Sense To The Rescue Again" graphic.

The only Imperial Federal Government School District where this would not be true is one where Spanish is the native language. Let us hope and pray those remain few and far between.

[The Pack Knight]

My mother works in the front office of a high school here in NC. It used to be there were two high schools in the county system (out of 22) that offered English as a Second Language, and anyone who came to the office and was unable to speak English was referred to one of those two schools, where the ESL teachers doubled as translators. This year, though, every school is required to offer ESL.

Those who come to the front office make not even a rudimentary attempt to communicate in English, the language of the country they're in. They simply say "Español" over and over, demanding that someone be offered to deal with them in their native language.

Can you imagine you, myself, or any other of the "ignorant Americans" here expecting to conduct all our business in English if we went to, say Europe, Japan, or even Mexico?

You're absolutely right. We're being made strangers in our own home.

[Weeedley]

They would have no language barrio if they were back where they belong.

[Red6]

Next year we’ll hear how the school needs more money because they can’t afford new textbooks and computers.

[backhoe]

I'll never forget what I read in the WSJ years ago- they had an article dealing with this subject.

The usual pros and cons of "only English" versus a second language-- until the last paragraph, where they interviewed a legal immigrant who had become a citizen... he said:

"In the schools, they teach my children Spanish, so they can become gardeners and houseboys, and maids...

...at home, I teach them English- so they can become engineers and doctors, and nurses."

[tumblindice]

I was in Friendly, MD a few years ago (Prince Georges county) visiting the old high school.
In addition to the school population now being about 98% black, I noted that there was a new building attached to the school. I asked what it was and I was told that it is a nursery for the babies and children of the students.
So I’m not too surprised to learn that the Friendly `Patriots’ new-hire teachers may have to be bi-lingual. Maybe they could hire Mexican teachers to teach the students morals/birth control methods that the American teachers are apparently not teaching them . . .

[The Pack Knight]

This is why I was furious when I heard Chris Dodd's haughty answer last night that making English the official language would discourage Americans from learning other languages.

Even better was Hillary's whining that such a law would actually require New York to print ballots only in English!! Incredible, considering the citizenship exam is currently only given in English, so therefore one would expect that anyone who is a citizen, and thus eligible to vote, to at least be conversant in English.

Of course, we've already seen Democrats in urban areas working to allow not citizens, including illegal aliens, to vote in local elections. How much longer until a state allows non-citizens to vote in federal elections? How much longer until they push to allow the citizenship exam to be administered in any language?

[Alouette]

This is BS.

10 years ago there were no Urdu-speaking liasons in the schools, 20 years ago there were no Russian-speaking liasons, 30 years ago there were no Vietnamese-speaking, 50 years ago no Hungarian-speaking, 80 years ago no Italian, Polish, Yiddish speaking, etc.

[ca centered]

bttt!!!!!!

[tioga]

The answer is to ignore them. There is no legitimate reason why we should respond in anything but English.

[Vinnie]

noted that there was a new building attached to the school. I asked what it was and I was told that it is a nursery for the babies and children of the students.

My how times have changed.

In my era a PG girl was O U T.

Of course back then, an out of wedlock pregnancy and birth was frowned upon.
Last year a neighbor's unmarried daughter had a baby. Replete with the balloons on the mailbox announcing 'It's A Boy'.

[The Pack Knight]

I agree, and I help run a restaurant. I refuse to speak Spanish to any of our many Spanish-speaking (and probably illegal) kitchen employees, even though I am conversant in Spanish. We get by.

The skilled ones tend to speak passable English (and are actually mostly legal), while most of the rest can understand what I'm telling them to do. The ones that can't (or won't) understand a word tend not to last long, even though their boss, the chef, will speak Spanish to them. I've noticed a strong correlation between English skills and performance, even in tasks which do not require communication in English.

[subterfuge]

Not only are these Latino imigrants unable to communicate in English but they are also illiterate in their native tongue.

This is the dirty little secret that has been buried from day one.

[Iwo Jima]

You are absolutely correct. I live in Texas, and we have always had to provide those documents to get enrolled in school. Why don’t they?

[radiohead]

My son dated a girl whose parents were boat people from Vietnam. The kids, with good English skills, routinely translated for their parents. This is nothing new in this country - the kids pick up the language quicker than the parents. So why don’t the hispanic kids translate for their parents?

Or, and I hate to even ask this, why don’t the parents at least try to learn English? Every other group that comes here has to struggle with the language. Sometimes you’ve got a grandma who never becomes fluent, but most of the family learns enough to get by because they have to, except for Hispanics.

The problem w/Spanish speakers is that we bend over for them. Stop putting info in English and Spanish. Except for voting materials (and we could talk about that issue), I don’t see info in Hmong, Vietnamese, Thai, Ukrainian, etc. The damn Stouffers frozen food package is in English and Spanish now. I don’t get nuts about a lot of things, but I do about making English our national language and not making it easy for a huge group of people to maintain their native language and therefore never assimilate. </rant>