Spanish in Schools

[texasbartrambaby]

Vernon - you're kinda close to me!! LOL

My grandparents immigrated in the thirties here. They NEVER never again spoke a lick of polish - they tried very hard to cover up their heritage and learned to speak English. I feel strongly about this - you're in America, and yes English is the universal language. It shouldn't have to be declared. Just as everyone knows if you go to another country you should try to learn their language. My grandparents wouldn't be caught dead flying a polish flag .... or asking off work to celebrate several different independance days.

I do feel very strongly that you should know another language. My kids are learning Spanish, but its Tex Mex and won't serve them well abroad. I don't particularly like it, but such is life.

 

[Rafter 7 Paint Horses]

Well, I'm going to be forced to learn Spanish.

This is America, we are a melting pot and our fore-fathers adopted English as the language.
All of our ancestors who were immigrants had to learn English to survive in this country.
Why should we change for the immigrants who are coming to America now? And most of them illegally!!!!
I don't know of any legal Mexico-origin people who do not know how to speak English, and of those, they agree with me also.

If the Spanish that is being taught in the schools would be helpful, I wouldn't have such a problem of it being an elective in high school, but what is being taught is proper Spanish, (spoken in Spain), and what is spoken by our southern neighbors is a broken, slang Spanish. I know people who are fluent in Spanish, but they have a hard time talking to people who are here from Mexico.

This is America...our citizens are fighting for our rights...and a lot of people want to turn our country over to Mexico!!!

My ancestors were immigrants, I am proud of my heritage, but I am an American citizen and I LOVE MY COUNTRY, and want to keep it!!!

Jean

 

[briesberrypatch]

Quote:
Umm...so, maybe the Spanish, French, Germans, Swedes, Japanese, and other nationalities should be worried about all the monolingual Americans driving on their non-English-speaking roads? After all, they had to take the international driving test in English, so by your logic they must be a menace to the public.

Frankly, I'm much more worried about the American drivers with suspended licenses and 26 DUIs on their record who still drive everywhere and risk lives. On August 9, there was a 13-vehicle crash on a local city street caused by two American drivers who didn't have valid licenses. Both of them were killed and ten other people were injured. Somehow speaking English didn't make a difference....

 

[briesberrypatch]

Good grief, this thread is becoming a xenophobic love fest. I could quote studies to you about the immigrant population and language acquisition that show the reality of how well immigrants are learning English (remember, I'm a linguist specializing in language acquisition), but somehow I doubt it would make a difference. You have your opinions based on anecdotes and vague feelings of how things "used to be" or should be...facts based on scientific studies won't make any difference.

Don't worry, I won't be back to this thread to spoil the atmosphere...xenophobia and the immigrant-blame-game get me too riled up, so I'll save us all the irritation and just bow out now.

 

[debilorrah]

Quote:
All I have to say to that is

 

[texasbartrambaby]

Ummm ... actually, in Germany a lot of things are in English. They are very smart and make their kids to learn several different languages. Many of the road signs and train station signs are in English because it is a universal language, ugly sounding as it is! We were quite able to get around easily in both Germany and the Netherlands.

My issue, like many here, is the "forcing" to accept and change our heritage and ways to accomodate those that are coming in. Come in, thats fine I suppose, but do like many of our ancestors and be courteous enough to learn English. I know several expats abroad and they learned the particular country's customs and languages. Keep your heritage proud, but don't frown on others when they won't accept yours.

 

[rufus]

My two cents: When I was a kid the teachers used to hit kids for speaking anything but English. They were out to exterminate any other language. The Indian kids got beat up every day for slipping up or not pronouncing something correctly.

My father in law was hit so many times that he stuttered when speaking Spanish. He could speak English perfectly though.

My wife spoke only Spanish until she went to school. Then she learned English from the Irish nuns. You can imagine what happened when she finally went to public school.

Anyway, after going through the extermination procedure for eight years, I went to high school, and there was this very angry Mexican ex priest that was to teach us Latin. He firmly believed in the power of rote memory. He had us conjugate verbs and decline nouns by pure memory. All of that poop is still in my head. I never used it, but I still have it.

As Mahonri indicated, just about everyone here now speaks Spanish. If you want to order a hamburger at McDonald's you just about have to do it in Spanish. It is no big deal. The signs are in Spanish, so go at it.

My kids spoke good Spanish until they went to school. Then the next thing we know they are gringos. However, the Spanish comes out whenever they need it.

If is really hard to learn a foreign language after you get older. I tried real hard to learn German. I bought a couple of computer programs and worked at religously.

Unfortunately, the computer programs were made in China, and it seems that now I have a Chinese accent in German. darn Chinos!

Why should you learn Spanish? Well for one thing, you will be missing some real good television programs. I love to watch the novelas. I hear people on the bus talking about people getting murdered, committing adultry, stealing etc. And it is all a replay of last nights novelas.

Why should you learn Spanish? Because you can.

Rufus

 

[hikerchick]

I don't understand why people dislike Spanish-speaking people so much. Many other countries have signs in two or more languages. Why is it such a tragedy if it happens here? And since English is not our official language, we really have no right to act like no other language should ever be spoken. I think people need to lighten up. It's just an addition to our cultural mix. Why are people so terrified of change?

 

[hikerchick]

Quote:
All I have to say to that is

mature

 

[SarahFair]

Hey Hey Hey I did not want this to turn into a lets hate on everything that isnt USA thread.
I just wanted my kids to know a second language without having to turn on Dora (which I dont even have cable THANK GOD!)

I want my kids to soak up as much as possible. Id like them to do it early as possible. When I started in highschool I had about the same attitude as some of you 'This is America, they just need to learn English'. But you know what?! WE have invited other countries here. OUR ancestors came here from another country. So we just need to suck it up.

I think teaching them at the youngest age possible is important because it will become very secondary to them very quick. When you start it at 15 - 16 - 17 years old its very foreign and hard.


Just wanted to teach my kids a little something something.. Thats all