Bilingualism is a bad thing in America

[Capt. Haddock]

And they are not trying very hard to integrate because we coddle them with their own language.

Who is coddling them and how?

Then those people shouldn't be here.

Too late, they're already here.

Among other things I mentioned, I believe the laws will help keep the corporations in check who cater to these people and who make the problem worse as they line their own pockets.

Which corporations? How are they catering to them? What problem are they making worse? How will these laws change that?


A propos, tu aimes la langue francaise (c'est feminin)

 

[Snowbear]

So why would Americans want to pass laws that make people stupid?

Some of us don't think it's stupid not to be able to speak a second language. But for those who do, the only ones looking stupid are the ones who immigrate to a country and refuse to learn the language of that country.

 

[doppelganger]

But for those who do, the only ones looking stupid are the ones who immigrate to a country and refuse to learn the language of that country.

Not necessarily. I live in a very large city, half of which primarilyspeaks Spanish. There is about as much reason for a Latin American immigrant to learn English in this town as there is for me to learn Spanish.

 

[FerventGodSeeker]

I'm curious about something. I understand the debate about illegal immigration in the United States, and all that involves...

But why are towns passing laws making English the official language and, in some cases, making it illegal to speak another language in service industries?

It's been proven 10,000 times over than bilingual people have higher IQ's and are generally more intelligent, trilingual people even more so. They've known for years that certain languages bring about development in certain areas of the brain that others do not, therefore learning two or more languages more fully develops your brain - provided the languages are learned before puberty.

So why would Americans want to pass laws that make people stupid? Okay, I'm not Fox News, let me rephase the question.

Why would they want to declare English the official language? Why is speaking two or more languages such a bad thing?

Declaring one language as the official language of a nation is not saying that someone living in that nation cannot speak any other languages...it is simply a way to unify all citizens of a nation with one tongue.

 

[standing_alone]

And they are not trying very hard to integrate because we coddle them with their own language.

I disagree. Now I don't expect the first generation immigrants to learn the language, but I can assure you their children are. My mom works in ELL (English language learning) in a public elementary school. It is her job to help these kids to learn English - and they are coddled in no way. Certainly they get some help when they don't understand something, but they are responsible to do all the same work as their classmates in addition to learning English.

 

[nutshell]

I disagree. Now I don't expect the first generation immigrants to learn the language, but I can assure you their children are. My mom works in ELL (English language learning) in a public elementary school. It is her job to help these kids to learn English - and they are coddled in no way. Certainly they get some help when they don't understand something, but they are responsible to do all the same work as their classmates in addition to learning English.

Which brings up the issue of tax dollars. I'm not putting my support behind either side at the moment. But there is something to the argument that immigrants cost citizens tax dollars because of programs such as ELL.

 

[nutshell]

I disagree. Now I don't expect the first generation immigrants to learn the language, but I can assure you their children are. My mom works in ELL (English language learning) in a public elementary school. It is her job to help these kids to learn English - and they are coddled in no way. Certainly they get some help when they don't understand something, but they are responsible to do all the same work as their classmates in addition to learning English.

I'd also like to add that you are right in saying the ELL students are reqierd to do the same work as their classmates, but that brings up another issue: The teachers may need to spend more time helping the LEP speakers, limiting the instruction that could be given to the native English speakers.

 

[standing_alone]

I'd also like to add that you are right in saying the ELL students are reqierd to do the same work as their classmates, but that brings up another issue: The teachers may need to spend more time helping the LEP speakers, limiting the instruction that could be given to the native English speakers.

I'm not sure how it is done at other schools, but often my mom either will take students out of their regular classroom at certain times to help out the ELL students more or will sit in the classroom to help her students. And it's not like my mom is the only ELL instructor. But granted, she can't be with all her students at once because they range from grade one to six. But I don't know how other districts handle it.

 

[nutshell]

I'm not sure how it is done at other schools, but often my mom either will take students out of their regular classroom at certain times to help out the ELL students more or will sit in the classroom to help her students. And it's not like my mom is the only ELL instructor. But granted, she can't be with all her students at once because they range from grade one to six. But I don't know how other districts handle it.

That's a good point. Certainly it will vary from district to district.

 

[standing_alone]

Which brings up the issue of tax dollars. I'm not putting my support behind either side at the moment. But there is something to the argument that immigrants cost citizens tax dollars because of programs such as ELL.

Oooh, almost missed that post. That's a good point and I don't know offhand about how much of the tax dollars that go to the public schools goes to the ELL program, but maybe I can get the information from my mom sometime soon. And I'm sure this will all vary district to district and state by state as well.