December 05, 2005
Learn The Language, Already
Can you imagine an American family moving to Mexico, or Argentinia, or Bulgaria, and the parents then complaining to the local schools because they didn't send daily homework instructions translated into English? The Yakima-Herald-Republic reports today that at what sounds like a poorly-run meeting last week in Wapato, non-English-speaking parents protested they couldn't help their children with their homework because instructions weren't coming home in Spanish. It sounds like the school district over-reacted by shutting down the meeting, but the parents are wrong, nonetheless. They should learn English - it's the language of the country in which they live and prosper. I certainly can't say that any of the parents were illegal immigrants, but this sort of entitlement mentality - combined with minimal effort to assimilate - dovetails with our country's illegal immigration problem. The school district is mainstreaming the kids; the parents should get with the program. It sounds like Wapato could take a page from The Federal Way School District, which offers an English-language course for Spanish-speaking parents, other Latino adults and students. This article in the Federal Way Mirror has more.
Posted by Matt Rosenberg at December 05, 2005
04:05 PM | Email This
1. The Filipino community learns English. The Vietnamese community learns English and the Koreans I know learn English.
2. More reasons for joining and working with FAIR at www.fair.org
3. Matt, I'll save the pinhead trolls the trouble, "why you racist, insensitive bigot." There.
Now, it's interesting how this is framed..."instructions weren't coming home in Spanish." It should be framed as, "we can't read and/or speak English." Same problem, different solutions. Heck, get an English/Spanish dictionary and they can probably get a good translation, and if their children can read the homework problems, why don't they help with the translation?
I like the idea of offering free English classes for the adults. Yes it would take time, but it can be done, and scheduled around parent's work schedules. But that takes personal responsibility, and the prevailing attitude in this deep blue state is that the government will do everything for you, just tax those evil Republicans and oil companies.
It's unfortunate that their mentality, however, is that society must do everything to accomodate them, but they don't seem to understand that they have a responsibility to meet society half way: we offer English classes, you attend and learn.
Too many parents these days don't take an interest in their children's education. I will give those parents a lot of credit, they want to help their children with homework. Now let's give them the tools to succeed.
4. The fastest way to learn a foreign language is to be thrust into a community as I was, as an adult, and not hear your own language at all. The learning curve is instantaneous. Within six months you are conversational. Within a year and a half, able to expertly interpret. If an adult American with no prior exposure to a foreign language can do, anyone can. You just need to want to. Obviously, they don't.
5. My mother emigrated from Japan in the late 50's, my father died in 1964 so she raised us kids alone. Growing up in the 60's and 70's most of us with Japanese mothers in our neighborhood could not speak japanese. Our mothers made it a point of not speaking japanese to us at home and restricting their use of japanese to their close friends. My mother understood the importance of assimililation into the American society. She wanted us to have as much of an edge when we grew up as she could provide. Now she sees voting instructions in Chinese and just shakes her head in disgust. My mom raised two kids alone, got a driver's license, became an American citizen, voted every election (at the polls, not absentee) and worked for 25 years all without the "help" of bilingual ballots, tests etc....
6. Many, if not most, of the parents of second generation Asian Americans had poor english skills. Yet, their children perform so well in school that they are now lumped with whites and discriminated against in the admissions policies of universities such as UW.
Go figure.
7. What part of learning to speak English don't they understand? They should, need & must learn English. It's not really a matter of helping their kids with homework, although that would probably help the kids. What really matters is that the parents need to get with the program if they are going to live in the US. One of their first priorities, after finding a job, should be to attend English-as-2nd-language classes. Until then, the school district should just ignore them. It's the kids responsibility to do their homework, not the parents'.
8. If you're going to come here illegally and get a FREE education for your kids (with curriculum produced in Mexico; right, Mrs. Gregoire??), the least you can do is pretend to be grateful!
9. Here in Federal Way, the school board has worked with the community to develop a Latino night. Saying that Latinos should learn English is not enough. Helping them learn English is what we should be involved in.
Parents and students come to the high school in the area to get language instruction, to meet with teachers and administrators, and to participate in the community. It is very successful, and very well attended. One attendee said that he spent his job speaking English, and he never knew that his grammar was all wrong until he came to Latino night with his son. He was able to find a teacher at his level and now he is studying the English language on a deeper level. His ability to communicate has increased drastically, and he is forever grateful.
There are members of the Latino community, and so-called leaders, who think we should bend over backwards for the Latinos. But the vast majority of Latino and any other immigrant population have sincere desires to integrate and take part in the American dream. They want to speak English. They want to vote. They want to own a business and see their kids off to Harvard.
If we take some of our time and put it into our churches, community centers, and schools, we can help these people realize their potential, no taxpayer dollars needed, and no mandates from so-called governors either.
Real Republicans don't look to the government for the answers their communities need. They ARE the answer! They spend a significant chunk of their time volunteering and serving their neighbor.
10. Amen. Students are not going to get anywhere if they don't learn English. Every other immigrant generation learned the language, I don't see why it's so hard. I'm learning Spanish so that I can go to one of the Spanish speaking countries for a temporary imersion program. It's just common sense. Oh wait, that's not common anymore.
11. "Millions for English as a second language.
Not a penny for bi-lingualism."
12. Amen, part 2.
My great-grand parents emigrated to the Yakima valley from Holland and my grandmother had no help at home as she learned English. This isn't rocket science - learn the damn language.
13. This is not about bigotry. This is entirely about assimilation and loyalty to the country you CHOSE to come to by YOUR OWN ACTIONS.
Our playground--our rules. Don't like it? MOVE out. Does the rest of the world cater to Americans living there? Nope. I would not expect them to. I would adapt to THEIR cultures. "...when in Rome,..."
14. The problem with the parents in Yakima is minor compared to how it is in health care. If anybody walks into any kind of health care facility and says they need an interpretor, even if they ask for one in perfect English, and even if they were born in the US, we (that means taxpayers) have to provide one. Very rarely, we'll see a Hispanic family who speaks English well enough that they will decline, but that is very rare indeed. Usually, they have been hooked up with one in their clinic and the arrangements are made prior to a scheduled hospital stay. In the case of a labor patient, you can imagine how many hours an interpretor might be there: it can run into a thousand dollars before the baby is even close to arriving. Sometimes when they discover staff members who speak fluently or somewhat fluently, they will hold out for that staff member. Many of them DO speak English well enough to get by, but choose not to when they find out they don't have to.
15. Okay, as someone who grew up a mile from the Mexican border in Arizona and is married to an Italian immigrant, I have a bit of background to speak to this issue.
One, this very specific case sounds like the school was started as one thing and that the principal, without the superintendent or school board permission, changed the school's focus. That's confusing to parents who already understood the focus as being a dual-language. We have that here in Seattle at the John Stanford School and if it got changed overnight, parents would be upset.
Second, it is important for parents, especially in elementary school, to be able to help their kids with homework. It's part of the buy-in to getting parents to be part of the process of educating a child. Education does not begin and end at the school door.
Third, the racist person who assumes that all these people are illegals should be ashamed of themselves. There have been generations of Mexicans in Yakima just as in Arizona.
Fourth, but yes, these parents, if they do want to buy into helping their kids (and themselves), need to learn English. (However, as someone who grew up around Spanish-speaker and lived a year in Italy, I still don't have an aptitude for speaking other languages. It's not that easy for all people but yes, it can be done.)
Last, Asian-american students are not discriminated against in UW admissions. Where's your proof of that? At least, back up what you say with facts.
16. ...again I say---my Monopoly board (my Country)--my hotel--pay up---YOU landed on it by your OWN choice & YOUR spin--learn the rules HERE or choose another game elsewhere...
...it's not cruel...it's not insensitive--just realistic; try your game in another country for proof and see how far you get...fair is fair--assimilate...
17. I really apprecaite all of your posts you say it so well.I wish politiicans weren't so sqemish about expecting those that come to our shores learn English!!!
18. Having taught several languages in the past, I have a rule of thumb that I won't even discuss bilingualism with anybody who ghas never learned a language other than his own. I see there are several people here who qualify, so I'll speak freely. :)
I've worked with a lot of Spanish-speaking immigrants (legal or otherwise; it's something you don't ask) in several jobs, and my experience is that most of them are in the process of picking up as much English as they can. They know perfectly well that they're at a disadvantage without it, annd I've seen some of them attending evening ESL classes after 12- or 14-hour workdays. Even the ones who can't or don't go that far are learning it a bit at a time, and can usually understand basics that they use every day.
However, when you get outside their scope of familiarity, or it's essential that they understand withouut confusion, it makes sense to go the extra mile and repeat what you're saying in Spanish if possible. The goal here is to communicate information, not to penalize these folks for not learning faster.
The meeting in Wapato seems to have been handled badly on both sides, but in general, this is why I don't discuss the matter with monoglots. If you've ever learned another language, you know that there is a whole spectrum of comprehension, and that it's not just a matter of buying a dictionary or taking one class. You don't become competent in a language overnight, and most of these people simply haven't reached native fluency.