Thread: $10G a Year to Teach AP Spanish to Kids Who Speak Spanish

California School Spends $10G a Year to Teach AP Spanish to Kids Who Speak Spanish
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
By Nora Zimmett

A middle school in Southern California is spending $10,000 a year to teach Advanced Placement Spanish to 35 of its 650 students -- and all but one of them are already fluent in Spanish.

Thirty-four of the kids in the AP class are from Mexico or are the children of Mexican immigrants. They all grew up speaking Spanish at home.

The program -- the only one of its kind in California -- has outraged some critics who say they are concerned that the AP course wastes public resources – including taxpayer dollars – to teach native Spanish speakers how to speak their native language in an American public school.

“In public schools, Spanish speakers should put their focus on making sure that they are fluent in English and equipped to speak the kind of English that will open the doors of opportunity to them in this country,â€

They were taking Spanish back when I was in school. It's an easy A.

Dixie

Funny enough, I was one of those students required to take AP Spanish back in High School. I grew up speaking Spanish at home mostly with my parents, but for everything else (siblings, friends, teachers, fellow citizens) I used English thus my Spanish skills were never up to par with my English. I struggled a bit in AP Spanish (was not used to reading and writing Spanish), but I believe the education was worthwhile imo. Though I would have preferred there'd been other options such as Japanese so I could pick up a third language. I think students should be required to take a second language course, but they should also be able to decide what language they'd like to learn.

Duplicate:

http://www.alipac.us/ftopicp-855095-.html#855095