"Press one for English."
For a certain segment of the US population, that's an infuriating thing to be forced to hear on an automated system--even worse than the only-slightly-condescending "Good bye" you get after the system explains that it cannot help you.
Why?
I don't know. But here's another incarnation of it:
http://foxnewsinsider.com/2012/03/1...a-elementary-school-dont-take-my-choice-away/
I find this article interesting for several reasons.
What the school is actually doing is beginning a program where every Kindergarten student is taught in English and Spanish, reaching them while they're still acquiring language and helping them all to become bilingual--a benefit in daily life as well as in the work force. But rather than phasing something in, Fox News chooses to phrase this as phasing something out--instead of saying something like, "Kindergarten classes to be conducted in both English and Spanish," they call this a "Ban on English-Only Classes."
It reeks of bias (nothing new for Fox) but it makes me wonder: why are so many Republicans against the idea of being bilingual?
I also wonder if the timing of this story has anything to do with Santorum's recent statements in Puerto Rico. http://gantdaily.com/2012/03/19/romney-sweeps-puerto-rico-while-debate-continues-on-english-only/
But I really, really have to wonder at the sanity of a woman who will at once say that "there is no harm" in dual-language classes and that she is willing to "fracture" her family in order to avoid them.
For a certain segment of the US population, that's an infuriating thing to be forced to hear on an automated system--even worse than the only-slightly-condescending "Good bye" you get after the system explains that it cannot help you.
Why?
I don't know. But here's another incarnation of it:
http://foxnewsinsider.com/2012/03/1...a-elementary-school-dont-take-my-choice-away/
Karen Brink, whose second grader attends the school, joined Fox and Friends and said that while she doesn’t believe there is any harm in dual-language classes, she believes that it should be the parent’s choice whether or not their child should participate. [...] “Don’t take my choice away. Don’t make me leave my local neighborhood school and fracture my family.”
I find this article interesting for several reasons.
What the school is actually doing is beginning a program where every Kindergarten student is taught in English and Spanish, reaching them while they're still acquiring language and helping them all to become bilingual--a benefit in daily life as well as in the work force. But rather than phasing something in, Fox News chooses to phrase this as phasing something out--instead of saying something like, "Kindergarten classes to be conducted in both English and Spanish," they call this a "Ban on English-Only Classes."
It reeks of bias (nothing new for Fox) but it makes me wonder: why are so many Republicans against the idea of being bilingual?
I also wonder if the timing of this story has anything to do with Santorum's recent statements in Puerto Rico. http://gantdaily.com/2012/03/19/romney-sweeps-puerto-rico-while-debate-continues-on-english-only/
Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – Presidential candidate Mitt Romney won the Republican primary in Puerto Rico Sunday after a campaign that touched off a still-simmering dispute over English as the official language of the United States.
But I really, really have to wonder at the sanity of a woman who will at once say that "there is no harm" in dual-language classes and that she is willing to "fracture" her family in order to avoid them.