Posted on 12/29/2007 9:59:03 AM PST by wintertime
have thought a lot about language since the birth of my twin daughters this year. I speak to them in Spanish, my partner in English, and I can't help feeling that this just isn't enough.
Frankly, I'm embarrassed that I live in a state that banned "bilingual education." Those with a long political memory will recall Proposition 227, approved by the voters in 1998. It was a culture-war wedge dressed as an education issue, and no matter whether you think it helped or hindered language acquisition, it did nothing to prepare California for a global future that's already arrived.
We should view the knowledge immigrant children have of their native languages as one of our greatest strengths. Although there are about 32 "dual-language immersion" schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District (most are Spanish/English, with a handful Korean/English or Mandarin/English), this is far too modest for a city that calls itself the "capital of the Pacific Rim." We need trilingual classrooms in which the immigrant kids tutor the native ones and vice versa.
This would help the cause of tolerance and understanding, but it's not about sugary multiculturalism -- it's about economics. To be competitive, everyone from the CEO to the customer service rep must be agile culturally and linguistically. English, Spanish and at least one Asian tongue ought to come with a public school education.
We turn out immigrant kids today with shaky English and a withering native language, and native kids with shaky English and a couple of tourist phrases in a second language. It is time for Californians to start speaking in the tongues we hear all around us. That's the kind of world I'd like my daughters to inherit. Which means I had better start taking classes in Armenian. Like now.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
I speak to them in Spanish, my partner in English,
Partner? Partner? Is this guy married to his "partner"? Is is "partner" another man and they are gay? Or??....Is the word "wife" and "mother" becoming and embarrasment just as Huxley predicted in his precient book Brave New World?
Frankly, I'm embarrassed that I live in a state that banned "bilingual education."
Gee!,,,My!My! That sentence has a certain ring to it.,,,Hm?,,,Kinda like "I am embarrassed to have a president like Bush". This guy is supposed to be a professor of English. Personally, I would red line that sentence with the bold comment of "Trite!" and "Unoriginal!"
Those with a long political memory will recall Proposition 227, approved by the voters in 1998. It was a culture-war wedge dressed as an education issue, and no matter whether you think it helped or hindered language acquisition, it did nothing to prepare California for a global future that's already arrived.
Yes! It did. Thankfully, it removed Spanish immigrant kids from their Spanish speaking government indoctrination camp ghettos.
Global? Hm?,,,As in U.N. run "global villiage"?
This would help the cause of tolerance and understanding, but it's not about sugary multiculturalism -- it's about economics.
I suspect that Rueben's motives are entirely about multiculturism. And,,,CEO's from around the world ( in all countries) will tell you that master of English is the language of international commerce. Having mastery is what needed if one's concern is economics.
Which means I had better start taking classes in Armenian. Like now.
Armenian? Well?...Go for it, Reuben! You pay for it! But, somehow, I expect that you want the taxpayers to do this for you.
Nothing stopping him from teaching his twin daughters any language he sees fit. Just our tax dollars are not going to help him do it. So....what’s the problem Roooooben
I think he is dissing Swahili. Very unPC.
If this author is REALLLLY interested in the “economics”, then I urge him to hasten the assimilation of spanish speaking students into the mainstream and stop encouraging the absolute chaos that is our current state of the high- and middle- schools.
“No Child Left Behind”? Would you like to know what that has translated into? The blending of “special-ed” (read: not interested in the schoolwork) in with regular students in most classes. Not only has it slowed down the smarter kids, it has dumbed down the classes to the point where even the teachers suffer from a kind of stultified boredom.
I would dearly love for parents who actually give a damn about their kids education to SEE some of the papers I have graded. The work is elementary level, yet the spelling, grammar and sentence construction is appalling; there is not the slightest grasp of even the simplest concepts and no show of any interest at all. The days of anxiety over a test are completely gone. They don’t CARE if they pass it or not.
Have you seen a public school history textbook recently? It’s packed with history about the imaginary plight of the “native americans”, black history and the offerings of hispanic “heroes”. Any mention of the American Founders is limited to one or two pages, a conglomeration of a few of the most well known and any misstep gets more print than the good they accomplished. “Travesty” doesn’t begin to describe it.
I pray daily for the proliferation of private schools.
I pray daily for the proliferation of private schools.
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I do to.
Ping for Public School.
Do you think this might interest the others?
Teach everyone three languages? There must be hundreds of thousands of kids in Kaleephornya schools who haven’t even mastered one!
Thank you for an article that gives much insight into what passes for education in public schools today, and they are fast becoming nothing more than indoctrination centers more akin to Hitler Youth of Nazi Germany than true learning centers. And homeschooling is vulnerable—the nazis will go after this with fang and claw, already it is threatened in some states, Utah, for example. >>>No nation can survive with its people speaking many different languages. Balkan States of America!
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I have recently returned from a trip to Costa Rica. My husband and I attended language school there for 6 continuous months. While there we lived with Costa Rica families.
There are plentiful after school and weekend courses in English for adults and kids in every city. And,,,guess what? Parents and adults **PAY** for it. Imagine that!
They have it figured out. Being able to speak English can double a person’s salary in Costa Rica. They understand that English is the international language of business.
If Reuben really, really cares about his kids, then he’ll make sure that they master English. Then if he wishes to ice the cake with Armenian, then I suggest he do what Costa Ricans do. Pay for it himself!
Exactly! There is so much more that is communicated with Reuben’s essay than merely the thoughts presented. His own words so plainly expose the indoctrination that produced this metrosexual wimp!. What REAL man would call his wife “my partner”, or keep the mother of his children in the limbo of unmarried “partner” status.
I have frequently posted that freedom’s greatest threat is MARXISM! ( Yes! I am shouting. Why are people so deaf???)
And,,,the Marxist’s most important weapon is our schools! We can survive a nuclear suitcase bomb, but we will not survive if the Marxists succeed in indoctrinating the next generation of voters!!!
IT REALLY IS THAT SERIOUS!!!!! Western Civilization can NOT, and WILL NOT survive a generation of wimpy, mush-brained, men like Reuben!
Those with the power to help wake up the American people seem asleep on the job!
Rush rarely mentions school issues. Sean Hannity and OReilly will publicize the PC nuttiness in our schools, but fail to identify the root cause or purpose of it ( MARXISM!). Sean and OReailly, to my knowledge, have never acknowledged the serious threat are government schools are to our very freedom!!!
Of the 3 most important people in talk radio, I have never heard them plainly say, “GET YOUR KIDS OUT OF GOVRENMENT SCHOOLS IMMEDIATELY!” I have never heard them say, “Organize a massive school tax revolt to shut these indoctrination centers DOWN! NOW! PERMANENTLY!”
Rush, Hannity, & O*Reilly: the 3 Stooges! Only Savage talks about it and I wish he would devote more time to it. Most of all, I can*t understand why more parents aren*t outraged to the point where they would expose this *Hitler Youth* movement and raise hell over it. Are they too busy, don*t know what*s going on, are they in denial or afraid to rock the boat? None of these are any excuses. It*s like so many people feel helpless, they have already become dhimmis.
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Great expression!
When it comes to government schools, and the **serious** threat they are to our very survival as a nation, these guys are clueless!
What a relief to know that the kids aren't burdened with such crippling social constructs as "marriage" and "legitimacy."
Your apostrophe key is messed up, it's typing asterisks.
Where did the article say his kids are NOT learning English? What’s so threatening about speaking more than one language to some of you folks? Most CEOs will tell you that speaking a language OTHER than English certainly is an asset.
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Gee! What a relief! ( sarc/off) ( Excuse me while I go barf!)
my thoughts exactly. We have created an entire generation of people who really believe the government should provide everything FOR them, and to validate all of their personal decisions. New twin babies with a “partner”, suggesting we all speak multiple languages is just ridiculous. This is what is mostly WRONG with our country in the first place. But it’s a free country, and he can do what he wants. Just don’t make the rest of us condone or pay for it..
I did not say that his kids were not learning English, so I can not defend a strawman argument of your own creation.
However,,,,It seems evident that Reuben thought the Spanish immersion schools for Spanish speaking immigrant children was perfectly wonderful. Hey! The reason the citizen of California got rid of it wasn’t because it was an abject failure. No, according to the wimp, Reuben, it was a “culture-wedge” issue. ( yeah right!)
Reuben’s own words:
“Frankly, I’m embarrassed that I live in a state that banned “bilingual education.” .” Those with a long political memory will recall Proposition 227, approved by the voters in 1998. It was a culture-war wedge dressed as an education issue,”
If that's the case they should be proficient in English (the international lanquage of commerce) and should immediately be taught something other than Keynesian economics.
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