View Full Version : Gone too far!



Karried
06-01-2005, 06:12 PM
Do you think this is a solution?


Dallas Principals Face Spanish Principle
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
http://www.foxnews.com/images/foxnews_story.gif
DALLAS — A proposed solution to a lack of communication between English-speaking school principals and Spanish-speaking parents has a lot of people talking in Texas.

Some Hispanic Dallas moms say they're often in the dark about how their children are performing in school because they don't know English, and the principal doesn't know Spanish. A new proposal before the school board would force principals to learn the native language of the majority of students — for 43 percent of pupils at Dallas schools that language is Spanish.

Keith
06-01-2005, 08:57 PM
Do you think this is a solution?


Dallas Principals Face Spanish Principle
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
http://www.foxnews.com/images/foxnews_story.gif
DALLAS — A proposed solution to a lack of communication between English-speaking school principals and Spanish-speaking parents has a lot of people talking in Texas.

Some Hispanic Dallas moms say they're often in the dark about how their children are performing in school because they don't know English, and the principal doesn't know Spanish. A new proposal before the school board would force principals to learn the native language of the majority of students — for 43 percent of pupils at Dallas schools that language is Spanish.
No, this is certainly not a solution. The pricipals of these schools should not be required to learn spanish, especially since we are in an english speaking world. Instead of making the principals learn spanish, why not have some parents that are bi-lingual (sp) volunteer to be interpreters for the principal? Or, why not have their children, who speak both spanish and english to do the interpreting for them?

Here in OKC, especially in south OKC, there are many hispanics that attend public schools. Many of these children actually know english and spanish, and many of these children actually have to interpret for their parents when they go somewhere.

dirtrider73068
06-01-2005, 09:22 PM
Don't know if i am being harsh or not but this is america and our language is english if you can't speak it then learn how. English is the main speaking language here not spanish or chinese or what other forienger language is out there. If was to move or go to another country then I would learn some of there language so I could understand them and be able to get around there country.

ErnieBall
06-02-2005, 07:36 AM
Don't know if i am being harsh or not but this is america and our language is english if you can't speak it then learn how. English is the main speaking language here not spanish or chinese or what other forienger language is out there. If was to move or go to another country then I would learn some of there language so I could understand them and be able to get around there country.

Not harsh, just blindly ethnocentric. "They should learn English" is not a solution to this problem. For one thing, in many areas of the western and southern U.S., Hispanic people are the majority or very nearly the majority, so in those areas English really isn't the main language. Second, what purpose would it serve to penalize new immigrant families just because they came to the U.S. from a country that doesn't speak English? That applies to all non-English speaking immigrants. I think the recommendation for providing interpreters is the best one, as it does not require the school staff to learn a second language and does not penalize the parents for not having learned English.

http://www.censusscope.org/us/map_hispanicpop.html (Map of Hispanic population density in the U.S., in case you're interested.)

mrote
06-02-2005, 08:16 AM
Maybe it's just me but is it too much to ask for an immigrant to learn at least enough English to understand how their child is doing in school? Assuming they are here legally that is. I wouldn't expect the illegals to know English but, since they are not here legally, they shouldn't be here in the first place. I have no problems with immigrants from Mexico or any other country as long as they do it legally and yes they should have basic fluency in English. If I moved to France,Spain,Russia etc I would think that learning the native language would be part of the deal. If I were to move to Mexico, I'm sure that I would be expected to know Spanish.

I work with several people from India, France, Albania and Iran and every one of them has good English skills. Not perfect but you are able to carry on a conversation with them on almost any subject with only a few problems.

Bottom line though is the immigration problem is not going away any time soon. Perhaps the governments in both the US and Mexico need to figure out why there is such widespread immigration from Mexico and work on making Mexico a better place for it's citizens so they wouldn't feel the need to leave their homeland and families. But since I don't think either government really cares about this I don't see an end to the problem in my lifetime.

MadMonk
06-02-2005, 12:52 PM
Maybe it's just me but is it too much to ask for an immigrant to learn at least enough English to understand how their child is doing in school?

Apparently so for some people. Like you said, I wouldn't move to Mexico/France/Germany etc... and expect those in their school system to be forced to learn english (or even provide interpreters) just because I was too lazy to learn the local language enough for a basic understanding. Also, I don't think it would be a good idea to depend on your bi-lingual kids to interpret how they are doing at school. Can you say "conflict of interest"? :LolLolLol

suzi
06-06-2005, 11:50 AM
I agree with dirtrider and mrote - if we were to go to another country we would be expected to learn their language, not the other way around. what is wrong with having immigrants learn english? when I was a UCO, the "foreign" students all spoke english even tho a lot of them were hard to understand, at least they were making the effort. i say if they are going to come across the border and work here and NOT pay taxes and get FREE medical care, the least they can do is speak our language.