From WP: Spanish at school translates to suspension
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This one makes me wonder if speaking Jive or Ebonics or any other language is treated as acceptable.
Discriminatory practices such as the one described here leave me thinking yet again that there's more than a fair percentage of our Educators that need to find themselves new jobs. I don't want to pick on teachers. I have relatives that work in that field. I know many are over-worked, over-stressed, and relatively underpaid for the jobs they are asked to do. But with that said, stupidity like this just shows some to be unworthy of these jobs, or at least the policies that they are being given by superiors aren't being rejected as they should be. (I know they can't just reject the policies out of hand, as that would be insubordination, but at some point there's being insubordinate vs. being smart enough to recognize a discrimantory and hurtful policy).
Anyway, enough with the ranting for now. Original article snippet follows. (BTW, bless Ms. Hawkins and other teachers from along the way for teaching me how to read and understand the language, and bless my parents for encouraging me to read when I was a child.)
Spanish at school translates to suspension
Controversy caused by Kansas City incident reflects national debate
By T.R. Reid
The Washington Post
KANSAS CITY, Kan. - Most of the time, 16-year-old Zach Rubio converses in clear, unaccented American teen-speak, a form of English in which the three most common words are "like," "whatever" and "totally." But Zach is also fluent in his dad's native language, Spanish -- and that's what got him suspended from school.
"It was, like, totally not in the classroom," the high school junior said, recalling the infraction. "We were in the, like, hall or whatever, on restroom break. This kid I know, he's like, 'Me prestas un dolar?' ['Will you lend me a dollar?'] Well, he asked in Spanish; it just seemed natural to answer that way. So I'm like, 'No problema.' "
But that conversation turned out to be a big problem for the staff at the Endeavor Alternative School, a small public high school in an ethnically mixed blue-collar neighborhood. A teacher who overheard the two boys sent Zach to the office, where Principal Jennifer Watts ordered him to call his father and leave the school.
Watts, whom students describe as a disciplinarian, said she can't discuss the case. But in a written "discipline referral" explaining her decision to suspend Zach for 1 1/2 days, she noted: "This is not the first time we have [asked] Zach and others to not speak Spanish at school."
Since then, the suspension of Zach Rubio has become the talk of the town in both English and Spanish newspapers and radio shows. The school district has officially rescinded his punishment and said that speaking a foreign language is not grounds for suspension. Meanwhile, the Rubio family has retained a lawyer, who says a civil rights lawsuit may be in the offing.
National debate
The tension here surrounding that brief exchange in a high school hall reflects a broader national debate over the language Americans should speak amid a wave of Hispanic immigration.
The National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic advocacy group, says that 20 percent of the U.S. school-age population is Latino. For half of those Latino students, the native language is Spanish.
Conflicts are bursting out nationwide over bilingual education, "English-only" laws, Spanish-language publications and advertising, and other linguistic collisions. Language concerns have been a key aspect of the growing political movement to reduce immigration.
... more at linked article
Discriminatory practices such as the one described here leave me thinking yet again that there's more than a fair percentage of our Educators that need to find themselves new jobs. I don't want to pick on teachers. I have relatives that work in that field. I know many are over-worked, over-stressed, and relatively underpaid for the jobs they are asked to do. But with that said, stupidity like this just shows some to be unworthy of these jobs, or at least the policies that they are being given by superiors aren't being rejected as they should be. (I know they can't just reject the policies out of hand, as that would be insubordination, but at some point there's being insubordinate vs. being smart enough to recognize a discrimantory and hurtful policy).
Anyway, enough with the ranting for now. Original article snippet follows. (BTW, bless Ms. Hawkins and other teachers from along the way for teaching me how to read and understand the language, and bless my parents for encouraging me to read when I was a child.)
Spanish at school translates to suspension
Controversy caused by Kansas City incident reflects national debate
By T.R. Reid
The Washington Post
KANSAS CITY, Kan. - Most of the time, 16-year-old Zach Rubio converses in clear, unaccented American teen-speak, a form of English in which the three most common words are "like," "whatever" and "totally." But Zach is also fluent in his dad's native language, Spanish -- and that's what got him suspended from school.
"It was, like, totally not in the classroom," the high school junior said, recalling the infraction. "We were in the, like, hall or whatever, on restroom break. This kid I know, he's like, 'Me prestas un dolar?' ['Will you lend me a dollar?'] Well, he asked in Spanish; it just seemed natural to answer that way. So I'm like, 'No problema.' "
But that conversation turned out to be a big problem for the staff at the Endeavor Alternative School, a small public high school in an ethnically mixed blue-collar neighborhood. A teacher who overheard the two boys sent Zach to the office, where Principal Jennifer Watts ordered him to call his father and leave the school.
Watts, whom students describe as a disciplinarian, said she can't discuss the case. But in a written "discipline referral" explaining her decision to suspend Zach for 1 1/2 days, she noted: "This is not the first time we have [asked] Zach and others to not speak Spanish at school."
Since then, the suspension of Zach Rubio has become the talk of the town in both English and Spanish newspapers and radio shows. The school district has officially rescinded his punishment and said that speaking a foreign language is not grounds for suspension. Meanwhile, the Rubio family has retained a lawyer, who says a civil rights lawsuit may be in the offing.
National debate
The tension here surrounding that brief exchange in a high school hall reflects a broader national debate over the language Americans should speak amid a wave of Hispanic immigration.
The National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic advocacy group, says that 20 percent of the U.S. school-age population is Latino. For half of those Latino students, the native language is Spanish.
Conflicts are bursting out nationwide over bilingual education, "English-only" laws, Spanish-language publications and advertising, and other linguistic collisions. Language concerns have been a key aspect of the growing political movement to reduce immigration.
... more at linked article
