Thread: Just found out my daughter is in an ESL

class. Thing is MY daughter is American and speaks ENGLISH.
NO other language. I am utterly confused. I questioned her
for the longest but she's only 8 and couldn't really give me
the answers I needed. Seemsthe ENGLISH speaking kids color
during this time. I CANNOT even digest this. On Monday the administration will be gettinga call! Seems to me the kids who
are American should be LEARNING something during that time
but once again our country caters to "others." How outrageous
is that???

It's called "dumbing down" children of US citizens. So while "no child is left behind", children of US citizens aren't being given a chance to get ahead. This is one of my biggest peeves with this stupid program.

Thing is they're not getting any smarter. There are kids in
this school 12 years old still needing help with English.

They should have them in a special summer program or
school for that matter until they can catch up with American
kids.

Dumbing down is right. I've had to go in on many occations for my kids. My youngest was extreemly shy and simply froze if she was asked questions. They wanted to hold her back, put her in special ed, etc. Fortunatly she outgrew it but it was a nightmare for awhile. The reading got me....they did the writing to read stuff. No phonics or anything. I think I spent more time teaching at home than what they had at school. Funny thing though.....they always complain about parents being involved but they sure get an attitude when you don't agree. Had to go to fight because they wanted to make all the kids speak spanish at school because there were less English speaking students and they thought it would be easier to just give in so they could go on with the lessons. So keep on them.

My brother is in 10th grade and his school in AZ has a very large population of non English speakers. He has got straight A's all year and hasn't studied a single minute all year. He is not a genius by any stretch of the imagination its just that the teachers have to dumb down the exams and assignments so that the immigrants will not have to struggle so hard. My sister is a 10th grade teacher in Nebraska she says that she doesn't have one non-English speaking student in her classes and the material she teaches her students is far more advanced than what my brother is learning in AZ. So who is going to be prepared for college? Once again the American children are suffering!

There was a guy from the Nebraska legislature on Lou Dobbs tonight. He's sponsored a bill that divided Omaha into three school districts. One is or will be predominately white, one predominately black and one predominately hispanic. He said kids weren't learning anything with the current system and the dropout rate was so great that he had to do something.

This could already be in effect I don't know.

Originally Posted by had_enuf

There was a guy from the Nebraska legislature on Lou Dobbs tonight. He's sponsored a bill that divided Omaha into three school districts. One is or will be predominately white, one predominately black and one predominately hispanic. He said kids weren't learning anything with the current system and the dropout rate was so great that he had to do something.

This could already be in effect I don't know.

First time I heard about that legislation. I Googled it and came up with an article. I would be surprised if it actually happened.


http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1841310

Omaha Schools Split Along Race Lines
Nebraska Lawmakers Split Omaha School District Along Racial Lines
By SCOTT BAUER
The Associated Press
LINCOLN, Neb. - In a move decried by some as state-sponsored segregation, the Legislature voted Thursday to divide the Omaha school system into three districts one mostly black, one predominantly white and one largely Hispanic.

Supporters said the plan would give minorities control over their own school board and ensure that their children are not shortchanged in favor of white youngsters.

Republican Gov. Dave Heineman signed the measure into law.

Omaha Sen. Pat Bourne decried the bill, saying, "We will go down in history as one of the first states in 20 years to set race relations back."

"History will not, and should not, judge us kindly," said Sen. Gwen Howard of Omaha.

Attorney General Jon Bruning sent a letter to one of the measure's opponents saying that the bill could be in violation of the Constitution's equal-protection clause and that lawsuits almost certainly will be filed.

But its backers said that at the very least, its passage will force policymakers to negotiate seriously about the future of schools in the Omaha area.

The breakup would not occur until July 2008, leaving time for lawmakers to come up with another idea.

"There is no intent to create segregation," said Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers, the Legislature's only black senator and a longtime critic of the school system.

He argued that the district is already segregated, because it no longer buses students for integration and instead requires them to attend their neighborhood school.

Chambers said the schools attended largely by minorities lack the resources and quality teachers provided others in the district. He said the black students he represents in north Omaha would receive a better education if they had more control over their district.

Coming from Chambers, the argument was especially persuasive to the rest of the Legislature, which voted three times this week in favor of the bill before it won final passage on the last day of the session.

Omaha Public Schools Superintendent John Mackiel said the law is unconstitutional and will not stand.

"There simply has never been an anti-city school victory anywhere in this nation," Mackiel said. "This law will be no exception."

The 45,000-student Omaha school system is 46 percent white, 31 percent black, 20 percent Hispanic, and 3 percent Asian or American Indian.

Boundaries for the newly created districts would be drawn using current high school attendance areas. That would result in four possible scenarios; in every scenario, two districts would end up with a majority of students who are racial minorities.




On the Net:


Nebraska Legislature: http://www.unicam.state.ne.us

Thing is they're not getting any smarter. There are kids in
this school 12 years old still needing help with English.

The thing is, if an illegal kid comes across the border, don't matter if he's five or twleve, he gets stuck in a classroom. Many of their parents don't speak English and therefore the kids can't either. And, unlike the real immigrants to this country who came because they want to be there, most of the spanish speaking new people will not learn english nor encourage their children to do so. After all, their aim is to take over this country, not assimiate.

I know it sounds cold. But that is the reality of the situation. The border schools have always been full of illegals and the offspring of illegals who don't speak English so it seems normal to me now but I have never liked it and I can assure you that NONE of the kids, under those circumstances, are getting a proper education.

Originally Posted by crazybird

Had to go to fight because they wanted to make all the kids speak spanish at school because there were less English speaking students and they thought it would be easier to just give in

They wanted to MAKE the kids all speak SPANISH ? Are you serious?
ONE LANGUAGE, ONE NATION ! (I've no problem with Spanish, or any other language being taught in schools, the earlier the better)

If your children (natural mimics) easily seem to absorb Spanish in the schools I would let them, maybe even encourage them to become fluent in it. If you were in a fender bender with an illegal and they concocted some lie, your school age kid would clue you in. There may come a time when it would be to your advantage to know what is being said. The language itself is not our enemy. And we will never be able to deport every Hispanic as many are legal or may end up staying somehow.

BTW Spanish is much easier to learn than English. Plus if you get really ticked off you can use a couple of those choice Spanish phrases.

They wanted to MAKE the kids all speak SPANISH ? Are you serious?
ONE LANGUAGE, ONE NATION ! (I've no problem with Spanish, or any other language being taught in schools, the earlier the better)

JustSayNo, this is common on the border. And the fact that there are more and more spanish speaking kids and fewer and fewer English speaking kids, the English speaking kids get the short end of the stick.

you haven't lived until you heard "The Gingerbread Man" read in Spanish! I kid you not! The book shelves have books in two languages in the libraries, etc. This is a huge concern.