Do you think that school systems should spend more money on teaching children to speak Spanish?

Question

Recently, our local school system put a bill on the ballot to increase taxes for the sake of rehiring four teachers that were laid off. Although I voted against the raise, because they didn't itemize, the bill was voted in. Now we have discovered that the money is being used to rehire four SPANISH teachers, and hire another four Spanish speaking teachers as well. Their goal is to have all the children in the school system speaking Spanish, as well as English, by the year 2008.

Si, Robert L., yo l'hablo, pero gracias por me demande.

Answer 1

no....they are cutting out hundreds of other things in our schools ... no i dont think that is right at all
if a english speaking child moved to another country they would be expected to learn that language to communicate not the other way around...

Answer 2

It sounds like what your school system is doing is not necessarily teaching children to speak Spanish, but trying to teach children literacy (reading and writing). It makes sense to have bilingual classes in places where there are many English- and Spanish-speaking children because literacy skills must be built on a language the child already knows. That is, if I don't know English, I can't learn to read and write in English.

Also, it doesn't seem to matter much which language you learn literacy skills in; they can transfer literacy skills between languages. So if literacy instruction is given only in English, children who speak English at home benefit more, but if literacy instruction is given in both English and Spanish, kids who speak either language at home will benefit. I believe this has been played out in some research on the subject, although it's still an open research question.

(Kids are basically language-learning machines and they are not harmed at all by exposure to other languages in their environment. In fact, there are many cultures where most children naturally learn two or three languages as part of their growing-up experience and there isn't anything "wrong" with these people.)

I think it's a shame that the school system didn't use the money to rehire the teachers they said they would rehire, though. That's not accountability.

Answer 3

No, I don't think they should. I don't know why teachers are trying to teach kids to speak other languages. With the amount of immigrants in the U.K and America they should be teaching them to speak ENGLISH!!! The amount of times I've called a taxi and had to give the driver basic instructions 'cause he couldn't speak English very well is ridiculous.

And anyway, why teach people languages they might not ever need to use? They only seem to teach French, German and Spanish in schools. What if you want to learn Russian, like me? Most of the kids aren't old enough to travel by themselves so they can't visit the country anyway.

They already have language classes in collage or uni, so why teach Spanish in highschool, middle school or other schools? There's no need. It's a waste of money

Answer 4

The students would probably have been better off with additional science and math teacher. Learning another language should be a choice and you should have the option of selecting a language. I grew up in San Diego and took Russian. It never crossed my mind to take Spanish.

Answer 5

Listen to the comments, they are all ignorant. No to learning spanish???

Hispanics are coming here by the dozen man and women and what should we be doing... learning spanish. Not only because they speak spanish, but being bilingual helps the society in so many ways. Hospitals need to step it up with speaking spanish, mothers are pregnant and they cant speak to the nure, the care provider???? This is ridiculous. Not to even mention, the United States is one of the few countries where the citizrns speak only one language..ENGLISH. Look at Germany, thek are made to learn English as well as French, Deutsch, maybe even Turkish. But we North Americans walk around like snobs and thin that eeryone has to confirm to our ways...LUDACRIS this conception is.

Not only should North America put a requirement on the learning of Spanish, but we should learn a second language because we are the country that everybody wants to move to. And these immigrants if they are in the legal system, they have to learn English in order to become a legal US citizen. Are we that above other countries that we have to think that we are better and that English will remain supreme in our society? No, the Native Americans didnt speak English, and nobody speaks Native American or at least a very few people speak it, in the west coast. The English ruined tht, foreigners to this continent.. What is going on today, foreigners are still moving in, and they dont speak English.

To say that a second language should not be taught in schools considering that many immigrants move here, is like inviting a stranger inside your house without speaking with him or her first.

Not only does speaking a second language in the United States increase you communicating ability, it will be very beneficial to society. There will be more job available, you could learn more about your native language, and you could achieve a higher than average IQ. It is already a known fact that bilingual people have a chance for more oppurtunities as well as higher pay, better knowledge of their own culture and score higher on the Standard Aptitude Test, SAT. Thus learning a second is only beneficial to everyone, and if you look at it in this manner, even the immigrants. More positions in the hospital, schools, lawyers, police force, dentists, even grocery stores.

Knowledge is power people, the fact that North Americans are too prideful is overwhelming, and the fact that we generally speak one language is a shame. Open your eyes to the whole world, look at history, look at what may happen tomorrow, dont sell yourself short of the true American Dream, Liberty...

Answer 6

If I was in school and they tried to push that garbage down my throat - I would strive for a failing grade at every chance I get.




Real Spanish ( SPAIN ) is something that I would not mind learning. But not the spanish from Mexico - it is a language that was forced on the people that lived in the area known as Mexico by the Spaniards. When they conquered them. So I would not have any intrest learning a language of conquest.

Answer 7

No, but they could certainly spend more to teach Spanish speaking children English.

I have a SouthAmerican friend who's 6 year old is teaching he and his wife English. They learn so fast at that age.

He is a citizen by the way, and a very hardworking man.

It bothers me sometimes that we carry arround these resentments of people who are as much a victim of circumstance as the rest of us.

I would like to see a stricter border control policy, but we tend to forget.........we are a Nation of Immigrants, Immigrants built this country.

I don't wish to keep anyone out, I just think our Goverment needs to know who we are letting in, and if they have a criminal record or ties to a terrorist organization.

As to teaching Spanish, hey it will help them find jobs later on. And colleges smile on those who started their second language education in grade school.

Just a question of priorities.

Answer 8

Of course! thats a great idea.. you know there are other countries out there that speak spanish. Your child will have amazing career opportunities being billingual. Why would you want to disadvantage your children because of anti-mexican sentiments?
America is NOT the only country in the world.

Answer 9

Public schools meed more Latin teachers. Latin helps kids learn how many words are formed and can allow them to figure out the meanings of words they may have never seen before.

Answer 10

Tu habla espanol? Actualy no. The United States is called that for a reason. When we started the language was English (the kings english) but it was english just the same. If you come to the US to be a citizen you should be able to speak American English. You should conform to US not we conform to you! No US signs or anything should be converted to any other language.
If the world wants to conform to the US, that is fine with me...but we should not conform to anyone else!