Spanish vs. other languages
RE: “Spanish class session turns ugly,” —News —, 8/31: My daughter is taking German language class in high school this year. She tells me that the teacher admitted that this class last year had only seven students, compared to an opening day roster this year of twenty-seven. During the “get to know one another” part of the class at least ten students had an admission to make about their taking up German: they were tired of Spanish. These kids (and others, perhaps) are tired of hearing Spanish everywhere they go and tired of being told by everyone from well-meaning teachers and parents to others—perhaps not so well meaning—in and through the media, that Spanish is the only important language.
The unfortunate event at Holy Family High School is what’s called “cultural blowback,” and it often starts among the young, who aren’t politically correct enough to keep their mouths shut. As ill-targeted as was the ire expressed in this Spanish language class and as ignorant as the young people shouting “White Power!” may be of the baggage that phrase carries, it nevertheless demonstrates that some of the frogs being slowly boiled in our “salad bowl” are becoming aware of the heat.
Now, rather than shrieking “racism!”, bringing Jesse Jackson and La Raza in and demanding that these kids—and their teacher—attend “sensitivity” classes (can someone tell me when language became a “race”?), perhaps someone should instead take an honest look at these kids’ emotions and address honestly what the adults in power are allowing to happen to the culture these young adults are about to inherit.
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Take a look at their parents. They learn this stuff at home. By the way it is "melting pot" not salad bowl, but the mental picture of a frog in the salad is good.
Many Latinos are white, kids don`t know this, A person with white (caucasian) and indigenous blood can come from any where from Canada to the tip of Latin America, but many of these folks have only white blood lines.
Have the kids watch the Spanish soap operas, those are people of Spanish decent on the shows.
If the boys in the class see those hot ladies, they will be scrambling to learn Spanish.
Posted by Sharon B. on September 10, 2007 03:35 PMMy daughter, who got straight A's in Spanish, went to Mexico on a field trip and had terrible time trying to understand the people down there. Of course, she was taught Spanish, not Mexican, which is a very different dialect.
Posted by Stan Broyles on September 10, 2007 04:51 PMHere's what I think:
We should all move to Mexico & DEMAND that they put EVERYTHING in english, tell the native people that they're jerks for not trying to learn ENGLISH in order to communicate with us...............
Yea I think that's what I'll do..........
Posted by Heather on September 10, 2007 07:09 PMSharon,
Now that's a great idea. I speak a bit of Spanish but I'm taking lessons from some of my granddaughter's classmates in exchange for cooking lessons and for kids. I oppose illegal immigration and their parents know this. So do most of them. Leetah needs to have more kids to play with and there are no kids in the area her age so we take care of it that way. My husband set up the old computers from the semi truck and the kids play different games with alphabet and numbers as well as learn how to safely mix up cupcakes and decorate cookies. Gives me new victims for my Christmas party. Every year I used to have my friends kids, then their grand kids and now Leetah's friends come over the Saturday before Christmas and spend the day decorating cookies and candies then putting them in cookie tins and boxes to take home. The parents get to put together toys in the daytime so they can get the missing parts or instructions they need while the stores are open. They get to wrap packages and shop all without the kids. I get to have one heck of a day with kids. I'll start making dough around Halloween. That I can do from a chair.
Thanks again. We might disagree on some things but you always have class. And on this one you are right!
Posted by momma y on September 10, 2007 07:19 PMScreaming "white power" is obviously wrong. And, it also reflects very poorly on the kid's parents. But, like Mr. Schell suggested, people are getting angrier to the point of completely abandoning politically correctness. Things will get worse before they get better.
Posted by John II on September 10, 2007 07:20 PMThanks momma, and John II stop beating the war drums, some of us want to lower the volume and avoid outright violence.,
Posted by Sharon B. on September 10, 2007 08:06 PMSharon B-
"the mental picture of a frog in the salad is good"
Stop, you're killing me. That was good.
John II
You said, "Screaming "white power" is obviously wrong."
You are EXACTLY right. The correct thing to scream is "nuclear power!" Oops, I mean, "nukular power!"
And it should be screamed in French. At Al Gore.
Sharon B-
Ok now that that's out of the way, "white power" that these kids were shouting has nothing to do with race, I think. They just didn't konw enough to shout "America power!" which is what I think they meant. "La Raza," so far as I know, means "the race," but they really mean "Mexican power!" from everything I have seen.
Sharon B. quotes
"They learn that stuff at home" Learn what stuff Sharon? If they were to say "Chicano Power" to a class of white students they would just be displaying "orgullo hispano" I suppose.
Mexicans are not white, nor are Hispanics, even if their skin color is light. They are brown. So let's color code. Whites, blacks, yellows and browns.
What if there was a white colleges? What if there were white scholarships? What if there were white beauty pagents? What if white mayors met yearly? What if there were white organizations? Yes, It would be labled as racist. White kids are being taught that anything white is racist., ANY pro-race organization IS racist! As a society we need to condemn all racism, not just white.
Some schools only offer Spanish. Why? Because we are becoming a Spanish speaking society. The bias is we have to kowtow to the invaders of our society. Here is an idea, how about we help our kids speak English. It is a beautiful language if spoken well.
Well said Breeze. I, for one, am sick and tired of the cries of racism directed at anglo Americans. Although racism most likely exists in ALL races it seems that reverse discrimation has become far too commonplace. The fact that anglos have no special groups or affiliations is proof enough.
"La Raza" (the race) is a perfect example! They receive millions in corporate donations to continue with their race based agenda. How do they get away with their obvious racism? Incredible!
Posted by Sam on September 11, 2007 08:03 AM
I am not sure what happened to start this blowup in the classroom, but suffice it to say that I agree with the letter writer in saying that kids are not politically savvy enough to watch what they are saying. They react to frustration with emotion, more often than with reason.
I encourage all kids to learn as many languages as they possibly can, as it will help with their brain power and open the world to them, such as their parents have never known. I would hope that the kids learn German, French, Spanish, Arabic, Italian, Turkish, and whatever other language they find attractive.
Posted by Sheila on September 11, 2007 08:08 AMAlot of kids had to sit back and watch as the latino kids when were allowed to walk out of schools in protest and wave Mexican flags in their faces.
Alot of our young people today are getting tired of the illegal immigration situation. They have voices and maybe our youth will save us.
Posted by on September 11, 2007 08:46 AMSharon B.,
You're stupid! No the spanish soaps are not spanish people..they are MEXICAN!!!!!
Many Latinos are white?
We spanish-AMERICANS born and raised 3-4 generation spanish Never called ourselves LATINOS --white Latinos? Our birth certificates say 'White" cause we're AMERICANS. And WHY do our families have to learn SPANISH!
For the benefit of the illegals?..the recent
influx of Mexicans? They need to learn English ..our first language ..we're in America ..Not MEXICO!
Stan Broyles..You are SOOOOO right!
Stan Broyles
Your daughter's experience with school Spanish is very typical as the schools teach Castillian Spanish; or, commonly referred to as European Spanish as spoken in Spain. My daughter also took a lot of Spanish in school and stumbled in Mexico. However, when she went to Spain she said it was just like a field trip with her Spanish classes.
Sheila
You're right in not only encouraging kids to learn a foreign language, I feel it should be mandatory here as it is in many countries.
As a side note, the way languages are taught in schools are not the most conducive way to learn a different language. This, the by rote vocabulary and grammatical structures, almost seem to make it harder to learn.
I have found it easy to pick up languages by starting with a little conversational basis and learning to "think" in the other language. As the conversational and thought in the other language increases, then start learning the actual grammatical rules.
Posted by mongoose on September 11, 2007 11:06 AMNo wonder Tom Tancredo pointed out that the Black, Asian and Hispanic Congressional Caucuses be disbanded. It's okay for them to have it but not Americans?
Posted by on September 11, 2007 11:13 AMThe terms Latino, Hispanic etc. refer to Spanish speaking people and their blood lines can be pure Spanish, or Caucasian or Caucasian and indigenous native Americans, both North and South.
Did you not learn this in school.
Someone born in Mexico is a Mexican national and can be of Swedish decent.
Fed up, do you remember the commercials after 9-11 that showed people of an racial and ethnic backgrounds saying "we are Americans too".
You are equating American=White.
Now think about that, all the blacks here are Americans too.
Report, repeat after me, "A person born in Mexico, a Mexican, can be white, brown or yellow.".
They can have any blood lines, be pure German decent and still be a Mexican.
Boy this is hard slogging.
Some of my "white" family are browner then some of the Mexicans on tv. What we see here in the migrant workers and illegals is a mix of Caucasian, black and South American Indian.
There is a lot of discrimination in Mexico between the Spanish decent and the Mestizo.
It looks like that discrimination has started here with a vengeance.
Posted by Sharon B. on September 11, 2007 12:05 PMWell, Sharon B., thank you for the geneology lesson....bottom line....Born here (of legal parents) or legal immigrant= American. Born here of illegal parents or remain here illegally=criminal. END OF STORY. Don't care what color you are. If India can have English as one of their official languages, why the heck can't we. I speak Spanish, but not to Mexicans to enable them to not assimulate to our culture.
Posted by Justsayin' on September 11, 2007 04:50 PMHi, Truthy: Yes, learning a programming language, such as you mentioned, is a wonderful idea! I don't, however, see why you are seemingly so upset at the idea that kids learn actual languages? If kids learn a second, third or, if they are really lucky, a fourth language, they will, in fact, have greater brain power well into their 80's and 90's. (scientific studies support this) They will be be more successful in life than those who never bothered to learn anything other than their mother-tongue. (keep in mind, before you all go attacking about statistics for proving their 'success', that the word 'success' has different meanings for different people.)
Kisses to all.
:-)
Fed up and just saying. White (Caucasian) has nothing to do with where you are born, whether you are an anchor baby or your legal status.
Fed up, if you are Spanish American, then look at all of your family members. Are some of them brown eyed brunettes? There was a period of time when the Moors controlled Spain and do you know where they Moors came from? Were they white Caucasians?
Do some of your people have slightly brown skin like mine?
Got Moor in you?
Posted by Sharon B. on September 12, 2007 12:56 PMSharon B -
You make me laugh. ILLEGAL is ILLEGAL and I think it is the jist of the blog.
The point is is that LEGAL American citizens are sick of having SPANISH thrown in their faces constantly. English is the language of this country and it is a slap in the face to all of us to have Spanish announcements made in stores ( SEARS for one) and we have no idea what they are saying.
Go to LOWES and read all the signs in the store and at the entrance in English and Spanish. This is not MEXICO! Where are the signs in GERMAN, ITALIAN, FRENCH etc? Not there because we cater to lawbreakers. If you can't understand the language learn it or go home.
NEVER will I learn Spanish. It is not the language of my country. WAKE UP AMERICA!
Posted by c on September 12, 2007 07:42 PMSharon B.
I didn't ask for a genealogy class. I'm Spanish American (we are) born in NEW MEXICO , my ancestors were born there in 1700's..parents and myself moved from New Mex. to Colorado..where we were raised..my brothers, my sons and daughters,
cousins,extended family ..relatives. DO NOT
SPEAK SPANISH...never cared to..WHY?
WE are in AMERICA!!! We never ate MEXICAN food...we are not MEXICANS..
My parents shunned MEXICANS..they are a different "NATIONALITY". We didn't listen to Mex. MUSIC there was "1" station on the radio,
And why? We're SPANIARDS NOT MEXICANS, aka...mojados, whetters, cheds,.
We were manitos..spanish. Yet there were generational (Americans) who were from Mexico that were close friends..and still are.
But now...with the illegal invasion.... everyone is lumping us together..as the political TERM HISPANIC........... we are not its two diff nationalities. And we are not considered LEGAL>>>> WE ARE NATIVE BORN >>GENERATIONAL >>>AMERICANS>
Legals are people ....who got documents...
who just got here..certan years ago. WE have colored eyes and light skin, some a next shade..and light hair.
So, for you to say...watch soaps the soaps have people from ..spanish desent ? They
are Mexican from Mexico in Mexico..where they should be if they did'nt come thru the front door legally!
Who cares about the geneology...if you broke the first rule of law and ran in here...posted up and made this country your's..without permission...you need to be deported.
ILLEGAL IS ILLEGALL!!!!!!
and we hate spanish signs everywhere,
and all the Mex. business stores everywhere,
This isn't EAST L.A.!
Never will my family be forced to have to..learn spanish.
A question was asked to Gov. Richardso(D)
New Mex. will he make spanish the official
langues and english second..if he's elected pres. OUTRAGOUS!
"Born here (of legal parents) or legal immigrant= American. Born here of illegal parents or remain here illegally=criminal. END OF STORY"
Apparently you are reading the wrong stories, as your account is factually incorrect. What part about being born in the US is criminial? I wasn't aware that being an American citizen was a crime?
"If India can have English as one of their official languages, why the heck can't we"
India has more than one official language. Should English and Spanish be the official languages of the US?
Posted by Kyle on September 13, 2007 05:07 AM