State Sovereignty or Secession

[srkruzich]

Okay, and if talking becomes a necessary part of that job, what then??

We shouldn't have to adapt to another language inside the borders in our country.  English is and has been  the primary language since the country has been founded. up until the 90's  i suspect immigrants learned the language and kept their native tounge alive in their homes but when interacting with the public they used english. 

What has happened is Progressives have divided the country into pockets of ethnic groups instead of bringing them together as Americans.   Think about it.  They studied their bible history well.  Remember the tower of bable?  God scrambled the common language up and no one spoke the common language and divided the people and made it so they couldn't accomplish their intended goal. 
It worked then 4000 years ago and its working now in this day and age.

[larryJ]

To add an anecdote to this thread, my daughter-in-law is Chinese born in Hong Kong.  She came here at a very young age.  She is one of the most talented, witty, intelligent, and beautiful people I know.  She speaks perfect English with no trace of an accent and still maintains her Chinese heritage and language when she feels it is necessary.  When we first met her, we were talking about schools and asked how she did in high school.  She replied that she was an "A" student and followed that up with the comment "I'm Asian aren't I".  She does have one failing with her native language in that she can't read it or write it.  However, my wife and I enjoy Chinese food as well as other ethnic foods and when we go to Chinatown in LA it is a pleasure to have her along as she just orders everything for us in Chinese so the waiter gets the order straight and I think we get a little more attention because she is "one of them". 

As far as a national language, I don't see that as a solution to anything much.  We should probably focus on telling immigrants that it is to their benefit to learn and speak English and to raise their children to do the same.  I think this would be the way to go instead of requiring teachers to learn another language.  I live in a widely diversified area where according to the demographics the latino population is almost the majority.  Which begs the question----being a white anglo saxon protestant in the minority will I be eligible for all those benefits that were set aside for minorities over the years?

Larryj

[Varmit]

So what happens to the immigrants that don't teach their children english?  More taxpayer money is spent on them in order to fund their education.  With a public education system that is struggling I feel that this is a waste of money.  Money that could be used for students who do speak the language, who are citizens. 

[larryJ]

What happens?  They lose.  If you are a child of an immigrant (legal or not) and your parent does not insist you learn English, you lose.  If you don't take it upon yourself to learn English, you lose.  If you don't learn English you might not be able to go to school and get an education and the means to support yourself, so you lose.  If you give up on school and run the streets you might have to join a gang for your own safety and that might get you put in prison or shot, so you definetly lose.  So the obvious answer here is to tell the immigrant to learn English and teach it to the rest of the family, or they will all lose.

Larryj

[Diane Amberg]

Frankly, around here non English speaking immigrants don't have to teach their kids English, there is a point in kids lives when they absorb languages like a sponge. It has to do with how the brain develops. They pick up conversational English pretty quickly, reading and writing and all the tenses and spelling oddities take longer. The kids go home and teach the family adults.
Hey Billy, what's the excuse for adult American citizens who know they don't know the difference between "there and their" and still don't bother to learn it. All that stuff can be looked up, but nobody bothers,...and it's free! Shoot, I have adult friends who still don't know their right hand from their left. As adults, don't they have some responsibility too?

[redcliffsw]

As adults, don't they have some responsibility too?

Well, it's about time you're recognizing those real questions.  We need more of that.

[Varmit]

What happens?  They lose.  If you are a child of an immigrant (legal or not) and your parent does not insist you learn English, you lose.  If you don't take it upon yourself to learn English, you lose.  If you don't learn English you might not be able to go to school and get an education and the means to support yourself, so you lose.  If you give up on school and run the streets you might have to join a gang for your own safety and that might get you put in prison or shot, so you definetly lose.  So the obvious answer here is to tell the immigrant to learn English and teach it to the rest of the family, or they will all lose.
Larryj

We can't tell them to learn english, and then have no way to enforce it.  And we can't enforce it without making it law. And it is not just them that lose, the rest of the country loses also in the form of increased welfare and educational costs.

Diane, theres is no excuse for ignorance.  What passes for public education in this country is a joke.  We have lowered the standard in order to increase our schools ratings.  We have placed an more of an emphasis on sports then math and english and the fine arts.  Just because 99% of a senior class graduates is nothing to be proud of when 95% of them are jock-brained dumbasses.

[redcliffsw]

Building new schools with federal involvment ought not be.
Growing with the Fed's is the wrong direction for sure.

[greatguns]

That would be more on sports than math.

[Varmit]

thats the best you could come up....a typo?