[QUOTE=charliec225,Apr 29 2010, 10:10 AM] Everyone knows being bilingual is impossible anyways.

 

I didn't use my usual dripping sarcasm, sorry

Honestly I think it's ridiculous that we can't prepare our kids to speak at least one other language. We live in an international, multicultural world. It's definitely not a source of pride to be unprepared to be part of it. (This goes both ways though, spanish-speaking immigrants learning english and American kids learning other languages).

 

LOL how ironic that half the world is being taught English and/or has implemented English throughout their communities (signs, stores, etc.) yet 15% of Alabama HS students (you know, the True Americans) cannot read. I think these folks just need to STFU and go back to scraping roadkill

 

Yeah, I got the sarcasm. All of those multilingual states have just fallen apart. (Canadian Bacon joke: "Um, you'll have to write those anti-Canadian epithets in French, too.")

It's a damn good point. Pretty much everyone in Europe and Asia (in the sophisticated economies) either already speaks or aspires to speak multiple languages. (and, newsflash, it's not just English that gets all the attention these days; Mandarin Chinese is growing as a second-language subject, like Japanese was in the 1980s before the real estate bubble crash, although I predict Chinese is probably here to stay)

It is unfathomably short-sighted to insist that English is a superior language; it is simply setting up the next generation of children educated in American schools to have another disadvantage relative to their multilingual global competitors.

Haven't you heard the joke that someone who speaks three languages is trilingual, someone who speaks two is bilingual, and someone who speaks one is American? Yeah. Not a source of pride, because the rest of the world sure isn't laughing with us.

Quick2k

P.S. We do a heckuva job teaching people to use English already. Those Alabama literacy figures are embarrassing. It's not just schools that have to do a better job, it's everyone.

 

I remember having to take a foriegn language for at least 2 years when i was in high school to graduate.

I dont think it is America at fault as much as it is the individual's laziness to learn in America's education system.

I have functional knowledge of Spanish and therefore at least tertiary knowledge of the rest of the romance languages.

It comes down to education ethic in the individual.

The US does not have a national language but we do operate in daily life in English so, what's the answer here?

Common language is one of the roots of any culture. Americans have a culture, yes? I would even go as far as saying that American english is different enough from British/Austrailian/S. African english to be classified a different language (not unlike the different forms of spanish).

IF this logic is sound enough, is it plausible to think that we as a culture would need to define a national language WITHOUT that desire being construed negatively?

Catering to different languages on a national level does more to divide us than it does to unite us as a people.

Personally, I am tired of pressing 1 for English.....


BTW: IBTMTP

 

Variations of the English language are similar to variations among Arabic speaking nations. For example, the Lebanese have different Arabic phrases/words than Egyptians.

Seriously, how much time do you spend pressing 1 for English? I think you spend more time trying to fart comfortably... I know I do.

 

and



OH, AND RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!! WE'RE GONNA BE SPEAKING SPANISH TOMORROW!!!!!!!!

 

Most southern states are like that. How many mexican children do we have in schools that can't read english. You can make stats read how you want.

Alabama has 2 of the best public schools, the best vet school, and one of the best medical schools.

 

You have to apply to college, so that kind of filters out the illiterate

But I get what you're saying. Still ironic though. You can go to the middle east and they have English signs all over. When they start putting street signs in Spanish, I'll complain a bit.

 

That chart is pointless.

of the 367 schools, 14% or 50 schools had a group (quantify #) of kids that failed reading, not 14% of kids failed reading.
22% or 80 schools had a group (again quantify #) of kids that were borderline passing.

so how many kids actually failed, how many kids were borderline, and how many kids were there in total?

i would take a stab and say that these stats are pretty much uniform across the nation.