School: 1967 vs. 2007

[slippers 3,168]

Scenario: Pedro fails high school English.

1967 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English, goes to college.

2007 - Pedro's cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against state school system and Pedro's English teacher. English banned from core curriculum. Pedro is given a diploma anyway, but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.

That does not sound very plausible scenario.

You can't learn language in a few months, even if Spanish word order is a lot closer to English than let's say Finnish. What chance does Pedro have if he couldn't manage to do it in a year--assuming he started his American education in his senior year of HS? If he only needed summer school to "master" it, then you would have seen his gradual improvements during his regular English class. And why was he in regular English class, instead of ESL class, if he couldn't speak English? Taking English out of core curriculum? That's fantastic. Neither HS English classes teach you grammar nor prepare you for college English classes, at least from my experience. It is a waste of time, unless you were planning to become a "newspaper editor".

[Pchan 5,162]

Off Topic: *waves* Hi Slippers!

[Dubird 6,815]

That does not sound very plausible scenario.

You can't learn language in a few months, even if Spanish word order is a lot closer to English than let's say Finnish. What chance does Pedro have if he couldn't manage to do it in a year--assuming he started his American education in his senior year of HS? If he only needed summer school to "master" it, then you would have seen his gradual improvements during his regular English class. And why was he in regular English class, instead of ESL class, if he couldn't speak English? Taking English out of core curriculum? That's fantastic. Neither HS English classes teach you grammar nor prepare you for college English classes, at least from my experience. It is a waste of time, unless you were planning to become a "newspaper editor".

Actually, you'd be surprised. Granted, this is an extreme scenario, but there are lots of kids that graduate high school now that can barely speak English because of the No Child Left Behind programs. They won't be able to really compete in college because they can't speak English very well, so they end up going on to manual labor for the rest of their lives. Now, the children that are brought over very young end up learning English quite well, but what about the ones that come over here and are 15, 16, 17? A lot of them have trouble learning English because it's a pain in the ass language, and so only graduate because they have translators that help them all through it and they really don't learn English well enough to function in an English-speaking society.

[slippers 3,168]

I think it all comes down to a person's motivation, apart from personal issues and circumstances. If Pedro only wanted HS diploma, then I don't think he would care, or should complain, whether he mows the lawn or flips a burger for living. For those who want to better themselves by seeking higher education, they probably won't accept such a free pass. Their local community college should offer at least ten different level of ESL classes, so they, foreign exchange students and people like Pedro, really don't have a good excuse to say they never had an opportunity to learn English and failed to survive college because their English wasn't sufficient enough. But, of course, it'll take them twice the work than average native English speakers would, in college or society.

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hey gg. *waves back*

Edited March 11, 2008 by slippers

[Dubird 6,815]

Yeah, but you notice it didn't say that Pedro complained. If he wants to do landscaping the rest of his life, more power to him. He can come mow my lawn. ; The problem is that so many agencies think they're doing good and kinda run over everyone in their path, weither they're needed or not. Sometimes, they are needed. But so many times they stick their noses into a situation and blow it way out of proportion and everyone gets upset and the media has a field day and other agencies are called and pretty soon the child in question is getting his life planned out for him and getting a free ride, even if they don't need it.