stephanie
12-06-2007, 04:14 AM
This was an interesting article on if we should all speak English in the Untied States...Lot's of thoughtful comments with the article also...
November 30, 2007 1:00 AM
Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid think the US needs bilingual education. But PJM editor Aaron Hanscom, who speaks Spanish and was recently a public school teacher, feels differently.
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By Aaron Hanscom
Recently some parents on a Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) advisory council got a little crazy. Though I’m sure they’d prefer it if I said they went “un poquito loco.”
The Los Angeles Times reports that Spanish-speakers walked out of a council meeting this month after African-American parents censured the chairman for bad behavior. This followed months of disagreement and back-and-forth arguing. The acrimony can be traced back to February, when Roberto Fonseca started to give his chairman’s report in Spanish. According to the Times:
Some in the audience objected; arguments and recriminations ensued, and school police rushed over amid concerns that a fistfight would break out, witnesses said.”
The obvious question is this: why did Fonseca (who is bilingual) think it was appropriate to run the meeting in Spanish? After all, African-Americans are well represented on the council, and many of the Latino parents speak English. Furthermore, current bylaws stipulate that all parent meetings across the district be held in English.
Apparently Fonseca took the opportunity to challenge those bylaws, motivated by a lawyer’s conclusion that the English-only rule was illegal and impractical and the district’s assurance that it would not be enforced. The LAUSD probably fears the reactions of parents like Guadalupe Aguiar, who told the Times that it is “racist when parents are told that, in America, they have to speak English.”
Ms. Aguiar’s logic has already cast the Salvation Army in the role of bigots. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) sued the charity back in March for requiring workers to speak English on the job. The EEOC claims that two employees at the Salvation Army’s Framingham, Mass., thrift store were fired “on the basis of their national origin.” As John Fund reports in the Wall Street Journal, however, the Salvation Army’s English-only policy was clearly posted, and the workers were given a year’s notice that they should speak English while on duty.
That wasn’t good enough for Rep. Charles Gonzalez of Texas. The Hispanic Democrat is quoted in the Journal as saying, “If it is not relevant, it is discriminatory, it is gratuitous, it is a subterfuge to discriminate against people based on national origin.” This type of heated rhetoric made its way to the House Floor on Nov. 8, when Rep. Luis Gutierrez of Illinois called English-only requirements symbolic of “bigotry and prejudice.”
But not all politicians think it’s racist to insist that employees speak English when working in America. In fact, Gonzalez and Gutierrez were reacting to an amendment introduced by Lamar Alexander from Tennessee. Alexander’s legislation would shield employers from federal lawsuits if they refuse to hire non-English speakers. The amendment passed the Senate by 75-19 last month, and, more recently, the House by 218-186, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is determined to kill it.
read the rest and comments..
http://pajamasmedia.com/2007/11/who_needs_english_in_america.php
November 30, 2007 1:00 AM
Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid think the US needs bilingual education. But PJM editor Aaron Hanscom, who speaks Spanish and was recently a public school teacher, feels differently.
Support Pajamas Media; Visit Our Advertisers
By Aaron Hanscom
Recently some parents on a Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) advisory council got a little crazy. Though I’m sure they’d prefer it if I said they went “un poquito loco.”
The Los Angeles Times reports that Spanish-speakers walked out of a council meeting this month after African-American parents censured the chairman for bad behavior. This followed months of disagreement and back-and-forth arguing. The acrimony can be traced back to February, when Roberto Fonseca started to give his chairman’s report in Spanish. According to the Times:
Some in the audience objected; arguments and recriminations ensued, and school police rushed over amid concerns that a fistfight would break out, witnesses said.”
The obvious question is this: why did Fonseca (who is bilingual) think it was appropriate to run the meeting in Spanish? After all, African-Americans are well represented on the council, and many of the Latino parents speak English. Furthermore, current bylaws stipulate that all parent meetings across the district be held in English.
Apparently Fonseca took the opportunity to challenge those bylaws, motivated by a lawyer’s conclusion that the English-only rule was illegal and impractical and the district’s assurance that it would not be enforced. The LAUSD probably fears the reactions of parents like Guadalupe Aguiar, who told the Times that it is “racist when parents are told that, in America, they have to speak English.”
Ms. Aguiar’s logic has already cast the Salvation Army in the role of bigots. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) sued the charity back in March for requiring workers to speak English on the job. The EEOC claims that two employees at the Salvation Army’s Framingham, Mass., thrift store were fired “on the basis of their national origin.” As John Fund reports in the Wall Street Journal, however, the Salvation Army’s English-only policy was clearly posted, and the workers were given a year’s notice that they should speak English while on duty.
That wasn’t good enough for Rep. Charles Gonzalez of Texas. The Hispanic Democrat is quoted in the Journal as saying, “If it is not relevant, it is discriminatory, it is gratuitous, it is a subterfuge to discriminate against people based on national origin.” This type of heated rhetoric made its way to the House Floor on Nov. 8, when Rep. Luis Gutierrez of Illinois called English-only requirements symbolic of “bigotry and prejudice.”
But not all politicians think it’s racist to insist that employees speak English when working in America. In fact, Gonzalez and Gutierrez were reacting to an amendment introduced by Lamar Alexander from Tennessee. Alexander’s legislation would shield employers from federal lawsuits if they refuse to hire non-English speakers. The amendment passed the Senate by 75-19 last month, and, more recently, the House by 218-186, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is determined to kill it.
read the rest and comments..
http://pajamasmedia.com/2007/11/who_needs_english_in_america.php