Thread: Schoolgirl to aliens: Learn our language

Schoolgirl to aliens: Learn our language

'We're not going to turn America into a bilingual country to accommodate you'

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Posted: February 07, 2008
5:28 pm Eastern

© 2008 WorldNetDaily

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?"

Rudy Rodriquez, retired from the bilingual education program at the University of North Texas, said a "bilingual brain" actually has better function.

But Allison told the Star-Telegram her family isn't anti-immigration: They're just pro-English.

"This is not saying, you cannot speak your native tongue," she told the paper. "Grasp your tradition and your culture. But when you are outside your front door, you must speak English. We have to understand you."

Allison said her daughter's school now has 54 percent Hispanic students, up from 13 percent 10 years ago.

She said when Principal Cody Spielmann told her Spanish is required and there were no other options, she reacted.

"Ashleigh feels the course would be a waste of her time since she has no aspirations in the future to have a career requiring bilingual talents," she wrote the principal, "nor does she feel compelled to accommodate those who live in our country who refuse to learn the primary and current native tongue of English."

The issue came to a head when the school refused to make any accommodations, and Allison kept her daughter out of class. She ended up filing a grievance, and reached an agreement with Deputy Supt. Jim Chadwell to allow her daughter to study and report on a country of her choice.

Without a teacher, she hasn't been able to pick up any but the most common French phrases, the newspaper reported, and Allison still is seeking a formal policy change.


http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php? ... geId=55847

If I didn't have four of my own kids to send to college, with the first one going next fall, I'd send this kid and her family some money so she can pursue language and political studies in college! Good for her and her family...they raised her right.

Glad to see she fighting for English.