Focus on the Goal Not the Language

Once again our government has set itself up for failure at our expense. The few of us left who still bother to remind our government that simply throwing money at it wont solve the problem have something to crow about. They fail to define results and establish guidelines in so many areas it is refreshing to see them come clean on an issue.

Article of Interest

After billions of tax payer dollars wasted on bi-lingual education and years of lost productivity, our government finally noticed what we have been pointing out for years. Total immersion works and bi-lingual education doesn't. The article goes far enough to point out a possible lawsuit waiting to be filed, based on how these children were manipulated by the system. Their future was denied or reduced as they were guided down a path of menial or trade labor.

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against trades or hard work. I can't help but wonder if some of the best and brightest may have been passed up. Look at the vast shortages in the medical professions as an example.

We learn that the whole thing was a way to garner more money from the system. The more students enrolled in these programs the more extra money you received. There never was an incentive to graduate these children out of these programs. Yet, there was plenty of incentive to keep them trapped.

These very facts are well framed in this quote from the article:

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich voiced sentiments similar to Badillo's in a
recent speech. He told the National Federation of Republican Women: "We should
replace bilingual education with immersion in English so people learn the common
language of the country and prosperity, not the language of living in the
ghetto."

Once again a key point many of us have made for years jumps out at you. The common glue of a people is their language. In the last 20 years we have seen vast separation of the people of America caused by language barriers. These barriers demonstrate themselves daily with "push 1 for English and Push 2 for Spanish". It is almost impossible to transact business with out jumping through various language hoops. I have yet to see a report of what it has cost us in printing of forms and brochures in the vast number of languages we now support. Then we need to look at hiring practices and the various language positions we support. If we take into account both government and business expenses I am sure the total is staggering. The article points out $12 billion in education costs alone.

Once again we lost sight of the goal, integration into society. For over a hundred years our ancestors arrived in America and worked with every ounce of their being to achieve integration and become part of this great nation. They worked all day and took classes at night in order to learn English. America was strengthened by full immersion voluntarily chosen by those who arrived on our shores. Should we continue dishonoring the work of our forefathers to make this nation great as they strove to become American?