Hempstead principal fired after requiring students to speak English on campus

[PhatMack19]

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/school-principal-fired-after-announcing-students-can-no-longer-speak-spanish-campus

Thoughts?

[westend1]

Mixed thoughts.  I like the idea of forcing kids to learn better English.  It will help them in the long run.  That said,  I don't think Spanish should be completely banned on campus.  When they are talking to their friends, and not doing actual schoolwork, it is probably easier for them to communicate.

[mat]

I agree with engilish being enforced as a primanry language but I find it inronic that you forbid students from speaking Spanish on campus, a class that is is probably tought/requied in your school system

[LumRaiderFan]

I agree with both westend1 and mat...English while in the classroom and their choice on their time.

[BLUEDOVE3]

The principal was wrong!!!! I would love to see a program like 60 minutes do a case study using Spanish and French speaking students in a classroom setting, just to see if there was a cultural bias out there in the real world.

[Peppermint Patty]

Esto está loco. Hable inglés.

[baddog]

No sabe.

[bullets13]

In the classroom, sure. But in the hall with their friends, they should be able to speak what they want. Keep in mind this district is something like 50% Hispanic. I don't see how she can be surprised that this backfired. Regardless of your stance on immigration, these students can hardly be blamed for wanting to speak the language they're most familiar with.

[5GallonBucket]

Yeah this is a bit ridiculous.

 

just food for thought

       while i was living in playa del carmen, mexico on the yucatan peninsula the school there only allowed english to be spoken by the students and staff during school hours in all places.....hallways, classrooms, pe, recess, etc...

[Peppermint Patty]

In the classroom, sure. But in the hall with their friends, they should be able to speak what they want. Keep in mind this district is something like 50% Hispanic. I don't see how she can be surprised that this backfired. Regardless of your stance on immigration, these students can hardly be blamed for wanting to speak the language they're most familiar with.

 

It's a double edged sword.

 

On one hand, these students need to "practice" speaking English in order to assimlate into the educational/cultural environment. The ultimate goal is to speak English as a Second Language (ESL).

 

 

On the other hand, many of the students that are "new arrivals" need to speak their native language simply to navigate through the school day.

 

I think the principal had good intentions, but approached it from the wrong direction. I'm not so sure she should have been fired. She probably should have simply been put on a Growth Plan in reagrd to the issue at hand. We are all subject to re-education from time to time.

[BLUEDOVE3]

Esto está loco. Hable inglés.

¡Qué! Obtener esta cosas fuera de ella. Escribir Inglés!     ooops!!

 

¡Qué! Obtener esta cosas fuera de aquí. Escribir Inglés!

[jv_coach]

A little harsh to fire em over it.

[PhatMack19]

Most of the Hispanics that work for me speak strictly Spanish at home. They rely on the schools and tv to teach their kids English. I think the principal was right, just a maybe shouldn't have been so harsh.

[bullets13]

As a teacher of pre-k, I speak a good deal of Spanish in my room. Many of my Hispanic students have ZERO English when they start my class. If I don't speak Spanish to them, they have no clue what I'm telling them to do. As the year goes on, and they begin to learn more English I use less and less Spanish in class, but if I wasn't allowed to speak it at the beginning of the year my Hispanic kids would take MUCH longer to assimilate into my class. It's a little different in older grades if the kids already know English, but if I wasn't allowed to speak it and my students weren't allowed to speak it, I'd have some students that would never say a word until the second semester.

[BHBLUE]

bullets13 - I understand your desire to educate these children as it is your job.  But, at some level, isn't what you're doing enabling the parents of these and future students to continue not making learning English themselves a priority? 

 

What about pre-k teachers who don't speak Spanish?  Are they trained to do so?  If so, should tax payer dollars be spent to accommodate folks who, for some reason, refuse to adapt one of the most basic aspects of the country they chose to live in: the language?

[bullets13]

bullets13 - I understand your desire to educate these children as it is your job.  But, at some level, isn't what you're doing enabling the parents of these and future students to continue not making learning English themselves a priority? 
 
What about pre-k teachers who don't speak Spanish?  Are they trained to do so?  If so, should tax payer dollars be spent to accommodate folks who, for some reason, refuse to adapt one of the most basic aspects of the country they chose to live in: the language?

Not being able to speak Spanish to them actually makes teaching them English much, much harder.  We have our Hispanic kids put into a just a few rooms that either have a teacher or an aide that is able to speak Spanish so that those students are not completely lost.  we are not spending any extra money to accommodate them.

[BHBLUE]

bullets13 - You may have bolded the wrong part of my post. You addressed the last paragraph, not the first. Based on your reply, I still feel you are enabling parents to not make learning English a priority. You are still making accommodations for their children.

[bullets13]

I have parents who speak English but only speak Spanish in the home. It makes it harder on me, but they're actually doing their kids a service by ensuring they're bilingual. As for the accommodations we make, we're not doing that to enable the parents, we're doing that to ensure the children learn.

[BHBLUE]

bullets13 - My comments aren't meant to be critical of you personally nor teachers in general. As you say, your job is to ensure all your students learn. My criticism is of parents not properly preparing their kids for school and life in the culture in which they live and of a system that, IMO, accepts and enables that lack of preparation.

I'd like to know more about the bilingual teachers and aides. Would this ability make an applicant for a position more desirable than one who, while not bilingual, is stronger in most other areas? Does the school district pay for teachers to learn Spanish if they don't teach a Spanish class?

[bullets13]

bullets13 - My comments aren't meant to be critical of you personally nor teachers in general. As you say, your job is to ensure all your students learn. My criticism is of parents not properly preparing their kids for school and life in the culture in which they live and of a system that, IMO, accepts and enables that lack of preparation.

I'd like to know more about the bilingual teachers and aides. Would this ability make an applicant for a position more desirable than one who, while not bilingual, is stronger in most other areas? Does the school district pay for teachers to learn Spanish if they don't teach a Spanish class?

As far as i've seen in my district, no.  there are a few spots where you need to be bilingual (such as ESL, or Spanish class), but i've seen no preference given to Spanish speaking teachers in normal classrooms.  And no, the school does not pay for teachers to learn Spanish.