Posted on 02/08/2008 3:42:20 AM PST by Man50D
A Texas schoolgirl has a message for aliens coming into the United States: Learn our language.
The message comes from Ashleigh Allison, who has insisted on studying France and its language even though her Grapevine-Colleyville school district curriculum requires her to take Spanish, according to a report in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
And her mother agrees. "We're not going to turn American into a bilingual country to accommodate you," she said. "She (Ashleigh) wants to be the one voice that forces them to learn English."
K.C. McAlpin, a spokesman for ProEnglish, a Virginia-based group that is trying to preserve English as the common language of the United States, said there's no opposition to teaching foreign languages.
But it would be naïve to think that the country does not face the growing threat of bilingualism because of the massive influx of mostly Spanish-speaking immigrants. They're coming in faster than the country can absorb them," McAlpin said.
In Texas, schools are required to offer "to the extent possible, languages other than English" for elementary children. Monica Martinez of the Texas Education Agency said the simple fact is for most, Spanish is the language of choice.
Grapevine-Colleyville district spokeswoman Megan Overman told the newspaper that the intent is to provide students the experience that "prepares them for success in our diverse world" and there's been no opposition in the past.
But McAlpin said forcing Spanish on students promotes bilingualism and could cause harm.
"Every place in the world where societies have been divided about language, there have been conflicts that many times lead to violence or antagonism that we have so far been able to avoid in this country," he told the newspaper. "Why break the successful mold of the melting pot?"
(Excerpt) Read more at worldnetdaily.com ...
So Ashleigh, come up here to Canada and be forced to learn French, even though the real second language here is Mandarin.
Mandarin? I thought it was Arabic?
Ping
Yeah, don’t even think about trying any of this “klaatu barada nikto” crap.
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