"Gingrich Decries Bilingual Education"

[© tweed]

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=2998127

WASHINGTON Mar 31, 2007 (AP)— Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich equated bilingual education Saturday with "the language of living in a ghetto" and mocked requirements that ballots be printed in multiple languages.

"The government should quit mandating that various documents be printed in any one of 700 languages depending on who randomly shows up" to vote, said Gingrich, who is considering seeking the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. He made the comments in a speech to the National Federation of Republican Women.

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lol.  I still support him for the GOP nomination.  Honest fascist over a dozen dishonest ones anyday.

[TomC]

lol.  I still support him for the GOP nomination.  Honest fascist over a dozen dishonest ones anyday.

Agreed. I'm hoping he gets out his "The Democrats are responsible for Susan Smith killing her kids" speech.

[Rob]

This should give him a big boost among GOP primary voters.

[MaC]

If I may ask, what good does bilingual education actually do?

[Smash255]

If I may ask, what good does bilingual education actually do?

helps kids whose first language is not English and don't speak English well the ability to learn at the level their peers do as they learn the English language so they don't have a bunch of stuff thrown at them in a language they barely understand which would cause them to fall back behind the pack.

[HardRCafé]

Translation:  helps kids not learn English and never integrate into society.

[muon2]

Translation:  helps kids not learn English and never integrate into society.

This matches a change in the attitudes of many immigrant parents over the last decade or so. Parents who wanted their children to use their first language and supported multi-year bilingual eduaction now are interested in immersion programs. They recognize the economic value to their children in a way they often didn't a few years ago. The federal and state laws lag behind in encouraging these parents in their new goals.

[CARLHAYDEN]

Translation:  helps kids not learn English and never integrate into society.

Oh, and hire a lot of unqualified people to assist in not learning English and who instead spend their time spouting anti-American doggrel in the classroom.

[© tweed]

Translation:  helps kids not learn English and never integrate into society.

That's not what happens at all.  The only Spanish kids in our school who can't speak English are the new immigrants.  The rest can speak at least enough to carry on conversations, and a high proportion of them demonstrate proficency in the language and thereby are assimilated into the regular education tract.

If bilingual education is ended (which won't happen but hypothetically) the hispanics in America would become a permanent underclass in a few decades.  Which probably doesn't bother people such as you and Gingrich and Hunter and Tancredo, but it bothers the rest of us.

[CARLHAYDEN]

Translation:  helps kids not learn English and never integrate into society.

That's not what happens at all.  The only Spanish kids in our school who can't speak English are the new immigrants.  The rest can speak at least enough to carry on conversations, and a high proportion of them demonstrate proficency in the language and thereby are assimilated into the regular education tract.

If bilingual education is ended (which won't happen but hypothetically) the hispanics in America would become a permanent underclass in a few decades.  Which probably doesn't bother people such as you and Gingrich and Hunter and Tancredo, but it bothers the rest of us.

There are several approaches on dealing with those school children whose language is not English.

The most effective is the one year immersion technique.

The other methods (which unfortunately predominate) don't really teach English, but merely  handicap a child for life in the United States.

The ongoing (non-immersion) methods are a waste of money, ineffective in achieving the purported object, and often hijacked by those who are actually opposed to English proficiency.

So, the predominant form of bilingual education itself handicaps children and should be abolished.

[Ban my account ffs!]

As someone who has studied in a country where English was not the dominant language and took classes in a foreign language, I can tell  you that my learning experience was hampered by the fact that I was not a native speaker of the language.

You shouldn't let your irrational prejudices and fears come into this debate.  My aunt is from Ecuador (OMG!!!!  A BROWN WOMAN... SPANISH SPEAKING??? DEAR GOD... WHAT IS HAPPENING)  who teaches Spanish for community education and also assists with children who have English as a second language.  I can assure you she's not there to instill anti-American wabble-babble in the children.  And she's a good democrat, just like her 65 year old farmer husband.  And they go to church (Lutheran) every Sunday and work hard and lead happy lives.

OMG.. is that possible for immigrants?  NO WAY... brown people aren't capable of that!

[SPC]

As someone who has studied in a country where English was not the dominant language and took classes in a foreign language, I can tell  you that my learning experience was hampered by the fact that I was not a native speaker of the language.

You shouldn't let your irrational prejudices and fears come into this debate.  My aunt is from Ecuador (OMG!!!!  A BROWN WOMAN... SPANISH SPEAKING??? DEAR GOD... WHAT IS HAPPENING)  who teaches Spanish for community education and also assists with children who have English as a second language.  I can assure you she's not there to instill anti-American wabble-babble in the children.  And she's a good democrat, just like her 65 year old farmer husband.  And they go to church (Lutheran) every Sunday and work hard and lead happy lives.

OMG.. is that possible for immigrants?  NO WAY... brown people aren't capable of that!

Weird how the only person who refered to immigrants as 'brown people' is calling others prejudiced.

[CARLHAYDEN]

Typical liberal.

Disagree with them and they accuse you of "prejudice."

Means they have no rational argument.

[CARLHAYDEN]

As someone who has studied in a country where English was not the dominant language and took classes in a foreign language, I can tell  you that my learning experience was hampered by the fact that I was not a native speaker of the language.

You shouldn't let your irrational prejudices and fears come into this debate.  My aunt is from Ecuador (OMG!!!!  A BROWN WOMAN... SPANISH SPEAKING??? DEAR GOD... WHAT IS HAPPENING)  who teaches Spanish for community education and also assists with children who have English as a second language.  I can assure you she's not there to instill anti-American wabble-babble in the children.  And she's a good democrat, just like her 65 year old farmer husband.  And they go to church (Lutheran) every Sunday and work hard and lead happy lives.

OMG.. is that possible for immigrants?  NO WAY... brown people aren't capable of that!

Weird how the only person who refered to immigrants as 'brown people' is calling others prejudiced.

Yeah. 

A good indication a liberal knows he has lost an argument is to begin accusing others of racism, prejudice, etc.

[GOP = Terrorists]

1) Strict immersion programs result in rediculous dropout rates and essentially stop all other learning until the language is mastered.
2) Bilingual education allows for learning in other areas while adapting to the new language.

In an urban environment there is no doubt at all that bilingual education is the better way to do it.  However in a rural area with a small hispanic population it probably does make sense to do a isolated immersion program.

[HardRCafé]

People scrape by in their native language until they have to scrape by in their second language.  If they know they can use their native language as a crutch, bye-bye survival instinct and incentive to improve in the second language.  People also are much more capable of second-language acquisition prior to puberty.

Clearly I am a xenophobe who knows nothing about second-language acquisition and has never left his hometown.  Racist Republican blah blah blah.

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

ok, I can agree with that...

BUT...

You must be logged in to read this quote.

that is a racist comment and it angers me.  Thankfully, he stands little chance of getting the GOP nomination.

[Ban my account ffs!]

Typical liberal.

Disagree with them and they accuse you of "prejudice."

Means they have no rational argument.

Are you talking to yourself or the turd in your pocket? 

Newt Gingrich is the idiot that made a comment regarding non-English speakers as speaking the language of the ghetto which is very prejudiced and it does offend me because I have an aunt from Ecuador.

And I'm sorry CARLHAYDEN, but it doesn't take me to figure out that you have an irrational fear and prejudice of immigrants in this country.  Your countless threads using all the hot-button vocabulary from the best of the anti-immigration crusaders can attest to that.

[Gabu]

Yeah. 

A good indication a liberal knows he has lost an argument is to begin accusing others of racism, prejudice, etc.

jmfsct stated that Gingrich's comment was racist, too.

[CARLHAYDEN]

Typical liberal.

Disagree with them and they accuse you of "prejudice."

Means they have no rational argument.

Are you talking to yourself or the turd in your pocket? 

Newt Gingrich is the idiot that made a comment regarding non-English speakers as speaking the language of the ghetto which is very prejudiced and it does offend me because I have an aunt from Ecuador.

And I'm sorry CARLHAYDEN, but it doesn't take me to figure out that you have an irrational fear and prejudice of immigrants in this country.  Your countless threads using all the hot-button vocabulary from the best of the anti-immigration crusaders can attest to that.

Please learn to read, I have no problem with legal immigrants, I do have a proble with illegal aliens.

Try to "figure out" the distinction.