BILINGUAL BUST CONTINUES ITS DRAG ON OUR SCHOOLS

Laura Ingraham dot COM ^ | 8-5-2 | Laura Ingraham

[vannrox]

BILINGUAL BUST CONTINUES ITS DRAG ON OUR SCHOOLS

Are you one of those who thinks your state is isolated from the impact of the huge influx of immigrants (both legal and illegal) into the US over the past few decades? Think again because even the zealously pro-immigrant New York Times has gone front page with an account of how our public schools are buckling under the weight of the biggest wave of immigration our nation has ever seen. The number of students with limited English proficiency, mostly Latinos, has grown to five million over ten years. States such as North Carolina have seen its student immigrant population quintuple. The result is our schools are wildly understaffed with teachers who can carry out bilingual or "English-as-a-second-language" (ESL) instruction. With Latino immigrants flocking to agricultural jobs in the South and Midwest, this problem has expanded far beyond the big cities on the East and West Coasts.

For years liberals branded anyone who questioned our current immigration policy or bilingual education "anti-immigrant." That familiar left-wing rhetorical scare tactic has had the dangerous effect of shutting down debate on this crucial subject. The current crisis in our public schools, which have struggled to recruit quality teachers of non-immigrants, let alone immigrants, demonstrates that we need to rethink our entire approach to immigration and border enforcement. If our schools are forced to cater to the non-English speaking minority, the quality of education for all suffers. It is crucial to our future that all our students be immersed in American culture and the English language lest we continue on the current destructive path that encourages a balkanized mentality.

In the year 2000 alone, the US Department of Education spent almost $400 million to help local school districts pay for training in bilingual or English as a second language (ESL) education. This year the government will spend a whopping $665 million in such grants. These are staggering sums considering how little our of native born students know of, let's say, American history. For the first quarter of the last century, our country managed to educate millions of non-English speaking immigrants who didn't demand special treatment. The word bilingual education didn't exist. They were eager to dive into the American public school curriculum. If we're not careful, the American dream will eventually be dashed by policies that discourage lawful conduct or make it easier for new Americans not to assimilate. It's time to leave the era of the hyphenated America behind!

[vannrox]

WORD OF THE WEEK

prepotency \pree-POTE-n-see\ noun

The quality or condition of having superior power, influence, or force;
predominance.

As in--

"...The awesome prepotency of the American military will ultimately ensure that Saddam Hussein doesn't have a chance of fending off an American invasion..."

[newgeezer]

BILINGUAL BUST ... Laura Ingraham

Nope, not gonna yield to that temptation... ;-)

[eleni121]

I get especially upset when conservative spokespersons get things wrong like Ms Ingraham has. English as a Second Language instruction and Bilingual Ed are two different approaches to mainstreaming immigrant students into American society. She cannot lump them together as she does in her editorial. Although teaching students in their native language happens in many of our najor cities, this kind of instruction is always accompanied by English language instruction. But most - and I repeat most schools - use English language instruction ONLY (commonly called ESL) to teach immigrant students. The debate about which is the better approach has not been settled although the consensus seems to be that Bilingual Ed - that is teaching students in their native language - is just plain dumb!

[First_Salute]

"Bilinual bust" ... that is one of them thar "consensual sex" things which liberals use?