My father immigrated from Italy to the US when he was 16, back at the start of the 20th century. English was his language although he never lost his ability to speak his native tongue. His view was that we were living in America and should speak the language. Italian was only spoken at our house when my grandmother came. My kids learned foreign languages, but their education was conducted in English although some of their classmates had recently immigrated here. One of my sons spent a year in Florence. Classes were conducted in Italian only.
Today I learned of a school system in Western Massachusetts which has, in my opinion, gone overboard in welcoming today's immigrants. At least in the fourth grade of one school in this town, there are two teachers - teachers, not aides. One conducts her class in English, the other conducts her class - it's the same class in the same room - in Spanish. Usually, they are teaching the exact same thing.
What a waste of money! More importantly, what does this say about our country and its future? There are many reasons why some countries succeed and others do not. I believe that having a common language is one hallmark of those countries that succeed. I was always struck by the biblical story of the Tower of Babel. The tower was never built because people could not understand each other. At least one town in Western Massachusetts is moving in that direction.
2 comments:
I think one of the things this says about our country and our future is that we recognize that the world is changing and it is important for schools to teach more than one language. A lot of people are looking at this from the perspective that the immigrants should learn English if they want to conduct themselves well in this country. While that's true, our children should also be learning a variety of languages to be able to keep up with students on a world scale. Would you be complaining if they were conducting classes in English and French? What if they were doing it in English and German? I think many people are anti-spanish because of the immigration problem, but the simple fact is that the US does a lot of business with Spanish speaking countries. The US supports the tourism industry in many of these countries, and isn't it more fun to visit a place if you can speak, or at least understand, the local language?
Besides all of that, countries succeed when its inhabitants are able to understand each other, that's true, but that understanding shouldn't be limited to just one language. The Swiss are world leaders in health care and education, and their citizens all speak 5 languages. In countries where languages are not only required, but expected, classes are often taught in more than one language.
The fact that classes are being taught in Spanish is really not the issue. It would not matter if it were French or Swahili. The issue is that immigrants to this country are not being taught in the language of this country and, thus, have little motivation to learn English. Not being able to converse in the language of the country in which you live is not good for you nor for the country.
I agree wholeheartedly that it is virtually mandatory for all of us to be able to speak a foreign language(s). But I believe that these languages should be taught in a language class, not in a math class. Further, these languages can best be learned by living for a while in a land in which they are spoken.
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