----- Original Message ----- From: "Doug" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Brin-L" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, January 11, 2002 12:01 AM Subject: Re: Death of the West (L3ish)
> > > > > For those who don't fully understand what "bilingual" education has > become, let me explain a bit. Though the intention was to give non > English speaking students a helping hand, what actually occurred was > that they ended up being educated in their native tongue, getting > very little chance to learn English. This ended up isolating them > in a predominantly English speaking society and thus had the > opposite effect of that intended. Let me point out that multiculturalism doesnt promote bilingualism, at least not at the street level. I get stopped on the street, at work, several times a week by Mexican residents who speak no english, who have mistaken me for another Mexican. It is almost impossible for them to tell me what they want, and almost impossible for me to give them directions even if I do figure out where they want to go. > > Guatam mentioned that most Hispanics in California opposed bilingual > education. In fact it was opposed by a whopping 84% of them. Most > non-hispanics favored bilingual education at one point, but this was > prior to the ballot initiative that ended it (by a vote of 60-40%). > The initiative served to educate the public on the issue, as > ballot initiatives often do. Personally, I'd like to see some sort > of national initiative system. Imagine if we were able to educate > the public on the "War on Drugs" and make constructive changes in > federal drug laws! The only real losers would be the Drug > producers/smugglers, the Mafia and the prison building industry. > > I don't think that programs that are more effective at teaching the > native language to the children of immigrants is detrimental to a > multicultural society. To the contrary, an individual that > functions well in a society is more likely to be able to protect > those facets of his culture that he/she wishes to retain. To me, > multiculturalism doesn't mean cultural enclaves functioning > independently, it means ethnic groups retaining strong ties to their > heritage while functioning effectively in mainstream society. I do > realize that this may differ from other definitions. The reality of the matter is that multiculturalism enriches few people (at least as it sounds like you are describing it), it is Balkanisation in the long run. There has to be a lingua franca, a method of communication everyone uses, in order to keep a lot of bright people from becoming janitors and tree trimmers. I work around an english speaking Mexican born fellow who was denied a chance to advance to a better job because he didnt spell very well. Crap, his spelling was atrocious. He was fairly well spoken, albeit with an accent and some poor grammer, but his writing skills were poor because he spoke spanish mostly when not on the job. *I* know for a fact he was the best choice for the job. I work with his department all the time. But when he wrote a departmental memo he made terrible and obvious mistakes and this made him appear to be ................. hmmm.....unqualified, if I may be kind. This is what bilingual education gets people, and bilingual education is an aspect of multiculturalism. > > Assimilation, on the other hand, is absorption into the main > cultural body, and (in my mind) encourages cultural homogeneity. > while this may be good for peaceful coexistence, it comes at the > expense of diversity. I would agree that it is good to be knowledgeable of your roots, it can be a great source of personal pride, but identifying with the past is not as valuable as identifying with your future. I have no problem with Cinco De Mayo or even Juneteenth. I think its a cool idea to remember the past. OTOH too strong an identification with a group outside of your *current* and *future* enviroment can be harmful to your future. > > One of the most interesting things about Jijo to me was its > multiculturalism. Just the idea that races so radically different > from one another could coexist was very cool. > Jijo was fiction, get a grip. <G> xponent Futurecultural Maru rob
