Should Immigrants Be Made To Learn English If They're Living In The USA? (page 6)

dinah

I've seen a great number of Help Wanted ads in my area that require applicants to speak Spanish. THAT makes me mad.

My daughter moved to the Netherlands about ten years ago. She had to go to language school for a year and a half, four hours a day, to become fluent in speaking, reading, and writing Dutch. She didn't think it was wrong and was happy to learn. She couldn't get a permanent resident card or access to certain jobs until she completed this requirement. Was it a hard job to learn a new language? It did take a lot but she felt they had a perfect right to require her to learn the language.

Lady Viola

@Emma where does your daughter live?

I'm from the Netherlands myself and I have seen the schoolbooks for the immigrants to learn Dutch and it's very difficult! This is a new law that everybody should learn to speak Dutch when they come and live in the country. I think this is like this since '98. But.... a lot of people came here in the '60's (turkish workers) and although the men speak Dutch the wives on the other hand... a lot of times they can't speak a word of Dutch. They just point to things at the market of use their children as a interpretor.

All Dutch children learn to speak English from the age of 10 in school and in High School also German and French. Still don't understand the German classes though, do they speak Dutch? Exactly... I refused to speak German when I worked for a tourist information desk a few years ago. The man was talking German to me and I replied all his questions in English. So funny... :-P

When I moved to England I spoke the language, but had a lot of problems with the Wigan accent for a month or so. ;-)

carvin

Yes. I have always believed that all education, legal, and business documents should be in English. The problem arrises due to the fact that the USA does not have an "offical" language. It has been proposed many times but politicians are affraid to push it forward because they might loose a vote. I see that for the most part legal immigrents do learn English, not all but most. It is the illeagal ones that by and large that don't.

That being said, I also believe that everyone should keep and celebrate their heritage and culture, and be proud of it. My wife is from Peru, I have always encouraged my boys to learn about, and be proud of that side of their heritage, as well as learn Spanish. If we would get an official language, some people would be upset at first but it would soon start to help eliminate a lot of racial distrust.

Emma

Lady Viola, she now lives in Amsterdam. I visited her this past winter and had a wonderful time. I'm amazed at how perfectly you Dutch speak English!

minimus

Viola, I loved that question!

BurnTheShips

I am a liberal, but I believe that English should be the official language, and that immigrants, be they european, mexican or african, whatever, should learn the language.

What he said, and as a condition for residency, or citizenship.

It is tremendously expensive to find and hire bilingual teachers-have staff that can translate-have two sets of books-one for the morning in Spanish, the other for the afternoon in English. Not to mention the library books in Spanish, etc. No wonder teachers are being laid off by the droves and school districts are operating in the red!

This is a grave mistake. These children should not be taught in Spanish. They should be made to learn English. There should be no multi-language education. As a child, my English was perfect, and I could read and understand English far better than my grade level. Yet, for some bizarre reason, the school put me in an ESL (English as a Second Language) class in 2nd grade. Makes no sense.

My father came to the US in 8/9th grade, and back then (1960s), this bilingual education thing did not exist. He had to learn English. Immersion. Sink or swim. My grandmother drilled it into him. Failure was not an option.

Despite the fact that they were poor, and my father had to pump gas after school to help the family survive, he still graduated high school in the top 10 of his graduation class. He received an engineering scholarship to Cornell (which he did not use because the Witnesses came a knockin)

It can be done! We make far too many excuses for these children. They will only do as well as what is expected of them.

BTS

dinah

Burns, the Valedictorian of the graduating class at my old high school was a Mexican last year. He worked his butt off. It does seem our area is not the norm. It amazes me how nice the white folks are around here!! About 10 years ago when the Mexican population was cranking up, a white supremicist group tried to march at the County Seat. So many people complained and raised hell, they weren't issued a permit to demonstrate.

I agree about the ESL classes. I think if a child needs help learning English it should be readily available, but we shouldn't have to bend over backwards and make the school system spend money we don't have. When that happens everyone suffers.

BurnTheShips

I guess Alabama isn't as nasty as some people make it out to be.

BTS

minimus

bts

Should Immigrants Be Made To Learn English If They're Living In The USA?

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