¿QUÉ PASA? SR. GRINGO ANFIBIO!
Newt Gingrich enlightens us on bilingual education:
“We should replace bilingual education with immersion in English so people learn the common language of the country and they learn the language of prosperity, not the language of living in a ghetto,” Gingrich said to cheers from the crowd of more than 100.
I don’t quite see the logic in attacking a program designed to help Spanish speaking children learn English because you think Spanish speaking children should be learning English.
Peter Zamora, co-chair of the Washington-based Hispanic Education Coalition, responds in the same article:
[R]esearch has shown “that bilingual education is the best method of teaching English to non-English speakers.”
…
“There’s no resistance to learning English, really, among immigrants, among native-born citizens,” he said. “Everyone wants to learn English because it’s what you need to thrive in this country.”
The real issue here is that Newt Gingrich doesn’t truly understand education, and is therefore incapable of seeing why bilingual education is helpful in promoting proficiency in English.
And that’s ok. Newt Gingrich doesn’t need to know anything about bilingual education so long as education decisions are left to teachers and local schoolboards––the community leaders who know what is best for their children, and who recognize the merits of programs like bilingual ed.
Newt’s complete ignorance on this issue should demonstrate as much.
4 Responses to “¿QUÉ PASA? SR. GRINGO ANFIBIO!”
on 31 Mar 2007 at 9:47 pm # neuroticwonderboy
Wow. Not to mention the inherent racism is equating Spanish with the ghetto. He should have at least specified and said “Mexican Spanish,” if he really wanted to hit his point home. I wonder if he’d have had a different take on bilingualism if the other language was something like French or Italian or German (or Latin!), something a little more middle class and white.
I may bring this in to my class. For some reason, everyone seems to know how to teach language and reading and writing. How come he isn’t criticizing the sciences?
-mike
on 01 Apr 2007 at 12:25 am # papasquid
Good point. Although I guess science isn’t completely immune to these kind of patronizing debates given all of the hubbub going on about Intelligent Design and evolution education.
on 01 Apr 2007 at 5:15 am # Maureen
And speaking of teaching subjects, Newt needs to take some history. Spanish predated English in the whole of the US SW region and other portions by many centuries– a language not just of hearth and home but of law courts, statehouses, schools and universities, hospitals, libraries and offices. That’s why the treaties after the Mexican War extended special recognition to Spanish as a protected language for public uses– yes, for ballots as much as for anything else. It’s not merely an immigrant tongue, it’s the original language of the region, as the descendants of the earliest “Los Angelenos” could easily confirm.
Another reason that if anything, we should be redoubling efforts to ensure Spanish is a crucial medium for all kids, at least in the SW and Fla, from the earliest levels, through the university.
Newt needs to keep his mouth shut. He can’t resist putting his foot in it.
on 03 Apr 2007 at 9:24 pm # mike
oh god! I forgot about intelligent design! I’d repressed it.
Why is it that only monolingual people make this argument? Odd.