How Important is Bilingual Education?
This is not a political statement. This blog will not try to influence your political views. I was going to write a blog entry discussing bilingual education and now that Barrack Obama has brought the issue to the forefront I think now is a good time to write about it. For those who do not know what Mr. Obama said that he is embarrassed that when Europeans come to the U.S. they can speak several languages including English but when American travel to Europe all they can say is "merci beau coup". He also said that rather than worry if immigrants are learning English, Americans should learn Spanish. Like 99% of Americans, that was all I heard of his speech so I am not 100% sure of the context of the statements but those sound bites are being heard all over television and will be replayed until November.
My hope is to get through this blog without you knowing which candidate I support.
I do not think that it was wise of Mr. Obama to make that statement. I have no idea what he thought he would gain by making that statement. With that being said, I do not disagree with the statement. Let's be clear, American students ALREADY have to learn a foreign language to graduate from high school so he is not suggesting any huge educational reform. I live in California and in my opinion, any high school student who chooses to learn either French or German and not Spanish (and who plans to live in Calfornia) is wasting their time. No matter what line of work you choose, knowing Spanish is California can only help you. This is not to say that immigrants should not learn English. I think that you are severly limiting yourself by moving to a country and not mastering the language.
I think that schools should continue to teach a foriegn language and I did not mean to suggest that schools should not offer French or German but I think that in regions where Spanish is dominant students are crazy not to learn it. I would like to see both Japanese and Chinese offered since I think that they are socially and financially relevant as French and German.
However, when running for president of the United States you should never ever say that you are "embarrassed" of Americans.
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Magnoliacom
Newsvine
Furl
Facebook
Google
Yahoo
Spin heyday
Yes, the spin machine will take off running with the "embarrassed" word, but our education system is slightly embarrassing. Requiring two years of a second language isn't the same thing as learning it. European youth take English every single year that they are in school and are expected to have exceptional conversational skills when they graduate. Most likely, they'll also know the languages of some of their neighboring countries. The time to start learning second languages is at a much earlier age than we start here in the US. There is much reform that can be done in this area of education.
As for the spin cycle on being embarrassed of Americans, could it be that he is more embarrassed of the education requirements and expectations of our students? This is how it sounds to me.