Thread: Spanish Program Being Expanded in Schools

Originally Posted by Prometheus

Why should we allow Spanish to be taught at a younger grade?

I already explained this.

Originally Posted by Jose

Originally Posted by Mr_Magoo

Originally Posted by Jose

Originally Posted by Prometheus

That is BS and English is the first language of this country, if those that want to learn another language they can do that when they offer it in H.S. and in College.

God forbid that they should teach something that may be useful in life.

So true. They should focus on teaching useful stuff like Math, U.S. History, Science, and English.

It is my understanding that those subjects are also taught among others.

But time spent on Spanish is time stolen from teaching Math, U.S. History, Science, and English. Why waste time teaching spanish when little Jimmy can't read.

Originally Posted by Jose

Originally Posted by Prometheus

That is BS and English is the first language of this country, if those that want to learn another language they can do that when they offer it in H.S. and in College.

God forbid that they should teach something that may be useful in life.

You yourself already stated that mexicans are a MINORITY, thus if we are talking about wise investment, it would make much more sense to spend money on teaching those who cannot speak english to do so rather than the other way around, looking at it from a cost standpoint. From the angle of kids learning something useful, the spanish speaking kids will find it much more useful in life knowing how to speak english, than the english speaking ones would from knowing spanish. Much to the annoyance of the French, English has become the international language. As an example, it is the ONE language that ALL air traffic controllers, as well as commercial airline pilots, worldwide must be able to speak.

Learning another language should be an option which can be exercised by the choice of the parents and the child, not forced upon them just to accommodate people, most of whom have no business being here.

Jose, you simple dont get it!

Pro

I would like to repeat one thing that I've said numerous times about this assimilation malarkey. There should be schools set up every few miles along our southern border. EVERY immigrant--legal or ILLEGAL--should have to first report there and MASTER our language before getting past "Go". And, if they didn't, they would go to "JAIL".

Take the proposed funds that have been allocated to teach Spanish to OUR children and spend it wisely by teaching every child who cannot speak ENGLISH, the language of OUR country, to speak the language of the country to which they have come. We did not invite the illegals; we do not WANT the illegals; and, by God, we do NOT want to speak THEIR language. We certainly don't want OUR children speaking THEIR language.

And, speaking of language--I get physically SICK every time I pick up a phone to call any service provider and the first thing I hear is to punch 2 if I want it in SPANISH. That is one thing that grates on my very last nerve. Right up there with that little gripe is that I am also asked that when I get ready to use a debit/credit machine in almost every retail establishment. If ANY person has come to our country, they should have NO CHOICE in which language they get service. It's just that simple.

Originally Posted by Mr_Magoo

Why waste time teaching spanish when little Jimmy can't read.

Good point. Children that have trouble learning to read or punctuate may not be good candidates for learning a foreign language.

If our teachers didn't have to spend such an inordinate amount of time dealing with children of illegals who can't speak English, they would have a lot more time to properly teach our own children. I have several friends who teach on the elementary level and they have constant problems--especially with the parents of these children who refuse to either LEARN English or to SPEAK it.

So, let's quit asking our teachers to waste their time with children whose parents have broken our laws and brought them here and spend more time teaching the children of the taxpayers of this country as they are supposed to do. All of the teachers I know are FED UP with having to take chunks of their teaching time to deal with this situation.

I might add, that the American children are not too interested in this. Oh, sure there are some, but the overwhelming majority feel they are having something pushed on them. They know what's going on here. Kids are smarter than you think. They know that it is to accommodate the people who are too lazy to learn the language of this country.

I am not at all against learning a second, third or fourth language. I completed 2 years of college level Spanish, and although it was necessary to take a language....I chose the language from several choices.

Let them have a choice as to which language they want to study. Not everybody wants to learn Spanish. Besides the U.S. will need people to speak other languages in the future besides just Spanish.

I just read an article here about how it is the lack of fluency in the English language which is holding kids back. Come on

If little Jimmy sucks at English...turn off the TV and get your parental butt down to your local school to find out why.

Also, I think you will find that the premier academic institutions for children offer/demand multi-lingual classes.

Children pick up langauage very easily and its the best time to learn a language. In my opinion, attempting to teach a language in HS, or College is buttbackwards.

One big reason that the US is loosing markets is because other nations have a language edge, they know English and their native tongue (plus perhaps even one or more other languages).

If you want to sell your widgets to China, how will you do it if you don't speak Chinese? And I can guarantee if the Chinese customer speaks English, you are now in a position of a negotiating disadvantage. I know this from being involved in international trade. How do you think the Chinese took over markets here? They learned English! If their schools only taught Chinese, there would be many more "made in the USA" labels on store shelves today.

As I posted earlier, the question is not if a second language is valuable, it's the question of which second language(s) should be taught. And yes, math, science, history can be vigorusly taught at the same time.

Certainly English should remain the everyday language in the US...but to maintain economic strength and intelligence capability, you need a pool of multi-lingual citizens.

PS: I had to take a language in college--I chose spanish (I thought it would be the easiest) and it was extremely difficult for me to adapt as an adult.

I took Latin, Spanish and French in high school and college. I didn't find any that difficult. My problem with this situation is that they are FORCING the children to take Spanish. They don't have a choice. And, it sure isn't going to help them with trade because we sure aren't selling ANYTHING to Mexico. We are just sending them all of OUR work and then buying the product back from them. And, the ones there who don't GET OUR JOBS come across the border and take the ones here.

It's not a matter of giving a child a choice of taking a foreign language on any level. It's a matter of NOT giving them the choice of the language. As far as China--I wouldn't sell doodley squat to China. They are quietly taking us over.