Comments on: ¿QUÉ PASA? SR. GRINGO ANFIBIO!

By: mike

mike — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 01:24:50 +0000

oh god! I forgot about intelligent design! I’d repressed it.

Why is it that only monolingual people make this argument? Odd.

By: Maureen

Maureen — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 09:15:25 +0000

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.

By: papasquid

papasquid — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 04:25:59 +0000

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.

By: neuroticwonderboy

neuroticwonderboy — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 01:47:04 +0000

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