Hispanic School for Tulsa

[TheArtist]

quote:Originally posted by Markk

quote:Originally posted by swake

quote:Originally posted by Markk

Will they be taught to speak English??  I'm tired to going to McDonalds or other service oriented businesses that are staffed with people who speak little or no English.

Why, have you been harmed? In what way were you offended?

If by "harm" you mean having to try to explain why or how an order is wrong to someone who doesn't (or pretends not to) know how to speak English, then yes, I have been harmed.  Is it too much to ask to ask that people who are employed in service positions be able to fulfill their job function while speaking English?  Call me crazy, but they don't provide much service if they can't communicate in the common language.

Guess none of you travel much to Florida, especially Miami.  The common language is Spanish lol.  I was just glad they had pictures and numbers at the fast food restaurants.


El numero tres, una grande fritadas. []

[rwarn17588]

Guess Markk hasn't been to New Mexico, either. It's officially a bilingual state, where Spanish-speaking people have lived there 150 years longer than English-speaking ones.

Or maybe Markk hasn't been to the Navajo Nation in Arizona, where they speak (you guessed it) Navajo and have for generations. They even have a radio station in which the language is used exclusively.

Or Louisiana, where large numbers of people speak Creole or French and have for generations also.

But no. Markk wants everyone to speak in a language that's one of the newest languages on the continent.

[}:)]

[Johnboy976]

No offense, but Hispanics serve a LARGE number of Tulsa... assumed at least 50,000+... so whether or not you hate answering to an individual whose English is not 100% "with it," you going to have to get over it.

Also, I hate to call out Cubs... but as a Christian you have a responsibility to care for the weak and the downtrodden. Just because government money MIGHT be paying out to such people as Hispanics in need means that you should despise them, and unfortunately it's sad that you think in such a manner.

On a side note, I personally think that this school is a huge advancement for Tulsa. It may only reach out to 70 children right now, but at least the Catholic Church is steering in the right direction... if no one else is.

[DM]

quote:Originally posted by Markk

quote:Originally posted by swake

quote:Originally posted by Markk

Will they be taught to speak English??  I'm tired to going to McDonalds or other service oriented businesses that are staffed with people who speak little or no English.

Why, have you been harmed? In what way were you offended?

If by "harm" you mean having to try to explain why or how an order is wrong to someone who doesn't (or pretends not to) know how to speak English, then yes, I have been harmed.  Is it too much to ask to ask that people who are employed in service positions be able to fulfill their job function while speaking English?  Call me crazy, but they don't provide much service if they can't communicate in the common language.

I have never went to any MCD's or any other fast food establishment and had someone that could not speak english. They may have a very strong accent but they still spoke english. Sometimes better then some of the okies around here.

[TheArtist]

^  When you said that it reminded me of the time I was on a job site and there was this guy, don't know if you would call him an okie or what, but I couldn't understand him for the life of me.  You know the type, the ones that sound just like that one guy on King of the Hill, but worse lol.  I felt so embarrassed, he kept trying to tell me something, repeated it several times and finally one of his buddies had to translate for me.

[NellieBly]

Good Ole Boomhauer! There's a lot of them around here. If the government made English the official language of Oklahoma, a lot of people would not be in compliance with the law, not just the Hispanics.

[OKmetro]

quote: Not so much in this case, but if the government is going to be spending the money, then yes.

If your goverment is welling to drop bombs on a nation for no reason then I say we can provide everyone with some decent education...

[]

[Jammie]

Why was this done? Don't the Hispanic children go to the public schools?[?]

[USRufnex]

quote:Originally posted by Markk

If by "harm" you mean having to try to explain why or how an order is wrong to someone who doesn't (or pretends not to) know how to speak English, then yes, I have been harmed.  Is it too much to ask to ask that people who are employed in service positions be able to fulfill their job function while speaking English?  Call me crazy, but they don't provide much service if they can't communicate in the common language.

Oh, geez.  You have NOT been harmed.  You are NOT a victim.  Please don't play like it.  

When I get a bite to eat at a fast food joint in Tulsa, I understand that I could have an awkward high schooler take my order.  Or I could get some older redneck-type who's recovering from meth-addiction.  Or I could get a hispanic who's either older and is TRYING to speak english with some difficulty, or a younger hispanic who has an accent-- probably due to the fact that the native language spoken at home by his/her parents is spanish.

In the conservative tradition of arguing to "ship people back to their country of origin" I'd like to offer this:

Take the Tulsans who claim to be victimized by people who "don't speak english" and SHIP THEM OFF TO BOSTON, or better yet, New Bedford, Massachusetts to work at a McDonald's or Burger King there... I'd bet folks in Massachusetts would find it easier to understand the thick accents of ethnics from El Salvador, Mexico, Columbia, Brasil/Portugal over the "english-only" accent spoken by most Tulsans...  

Back to topic; good, bilingual focused education has its advantages. Those kids who are taught in a bilingual setting will speak/understand english BETTER than if they were stuck in an english-only classroom... not for reasons relating to a "liberal social agenda"... but for really practical reasons, it's a good idea to effectively educate our busboys and housekeepers and/or their children so some of them can one day become good, job creating, tax-paying citizens...
---end of rant---

[Conan71]

Two comments on this:

It's great it is privately-funded and from the sounds of it, the children are being taught English.

I'm not a xenophobe, but it seems like many have forgotten that Italian, Russian, Polish, Slavik, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese (et. al.- ad nauseum) immigrants who migrated via legal channels in the 1800's and 1900's were expected to learn our language and assimilate into our society.  To my knowledge, there were not any Russian/English, Itallian/English schools.  Why should it be any different today?  To help preserve their own culture and stay amongst their own contrymen, they lived in ghettos where they spoke their own language amongst themselves and observed their own traditions.  When they ventured out of their ethnic ghettos, they respectfully observed the prevailing language and customs.

The great "melting pot" that America has become has to do with many cultures and traditions coming together in one place.  However, the increasingly prevalent latino culture is starting to impose itself on all the other cultures.

Up until the last 20 years, English has always been the accepted common language of the land.  We didn't have bi-lingual signs when I was a kid on school campuses, I didn't have to use broken Spanish to get my message across to another person, unless I was in a Spanish-speaking country.  I think it's wrong for a culture dominated by people who haven't gone through the same legal channels as other immigrants to impose their language and culture on the rest of us.

[NellieBly]

In the 1800s and 1900s, most children in the U.S. didn't even receive a high school education.

[Conan71]

...And what WAS the predominant and accepted language of our government back then?

[NellieBly]

I would have to say a majority of people were considered illiterate. They could speak the languate but not read or write it.

[DM]

quote:Originally posted by NellieBly

I would have to say a majority of people were considered illiterate. They could speak the languate but not read or write it.

And of course we would be talking about time when blacks were not able to get an education and women were just as much property as the slaves were. They just didnt have to work in the fields.

Now what was the topic again? lol!

[NellieBly]

See -- there I go being all illiterate. That would be language, of course.