Re: Texas wants to rewrite the US History books
 

[quote=BleedBurgundy;675265]I agree with this to a point. Right now, spanish is the obvious choice for a second language, but what happens when another demographic surpasses the Hispanic population's numbers? It's beyond impractical to have multiple official languages. We've all just received our census forms, imagine getting 10 copies of that in the mail, and the associated administrative and fiscal problem it poses. I don't think anyone (anyone rational, anyway) has any issue with what another person speaks socially, just officially. And I think that learning the official language of the nation you are CHOOSING to join is a small price to pay for the myriad benefits you are granted on day one of your citizenship.
The U.S. being the "melting pot" implies that we are a mishmash of diversity, which is a great thing. But there's no reason we should forgo common sense.[/quote]

Spanish is maybe the obvious choice as far as population in our own nation goes. The language of business in America will be in English though, at least big business. If I had a child right now I'd probably rather them learn something from Asia or Europe. Sure Spanish might make it easier to communicate with some kids in school, but more business will be with France (nuclear tech) and Asia (everything). Chinese, Japanese, Korean.. those would be some languages to learn.

Re: Texas wants to rewrite the US History books
 

[quote=tryfuhl;675271]do you think that freedom from religion is important?

I do

man I've met a lot of home schooled kids and it freaks me out how little they actually know about things.. history, the real world, etc[/quote]

Completely agree. This story is so pathetic, it's beyond justification.

[url=http://rawstory.com/2010/03/top-homeschool-texts-dismiss-evolution/]Top US home-school texts dismiss evolution | Raw Story[/url]

Re: Texas wants to rewrite the US History books
 

[quote=BleedBurgundy;675273]Is there any country I can go to to escape religion completely? (I know, china, I know) My biggest beef with US is how much control these small minded religious fools have over the government. Legislation based on fairy tales, you gotta love it.[/quote]

the scandinavian nations are among the world's least religious

Re: Texas wants to rewrite the US History books
 

[quote=BleedBurgundy;675279]Completely agree. This story is so pathetic, it's beyond justification.

[url=http://rawstory.com/2010/03/top-homeschool-texts-dismiss-evolution/]Top US home-school texts dismiss evolution | Raw Story[/url][/quote]

haha yeah.. it's crazy

knew plenty of girls that went to Christian Academies as well.. the slanting of their learning is beyond amazing

Re: Texas wants to rewrite the US History books
 

[quote=Mattyk;675264]Who's to say they aren't willing?

And maybe if we had a bilingual education system to begin with it wouldn't be such a problem.[/quote]
The problem is that people move here but will not learn the language. Yes. people are unwilling or too lazy to learn the language. I have customers that only one person in the family has learned to speak english. My mother-in-law moved from Germany and she learned to speak english because that is our language and she did not expect us to learn Germany.

Re: Texas wants to rewrite the US History books
 

[quote=tryfuhl;675269]yeah, government controlled churches

hell a lot of those people would've LOVED the churches controlling the government though

either way, what some people jumped on some boats for shouldn't control what I do now[/quote]


I believe the real reason why TJ was dropped was because he wrote his own version of the Bible and had a copy the Qur'an. One has to wonder if he was a secret Muslim? Did anyone ever see his birth certificate?

Re: Texas wants to rewrite the US History books
 

[quote=firstdown;675283]The problem is that people move here but will not learn the language. Yes. people are unwilling or too lazy to learn the language. I have customers that only one person in the family has learned to speak english. My mother-in-law moved from Germany and she learned to speak english because that is our language and she did not expect us to learn Germany.[/quote]


You have no idea what it takes to learn English, no idea.

Re: Texas wants to rewrite the US History books
 

[quote=BleedBurgundy;675279]Completely agree. This story is so pathetic, it's beyond justification.

[url=http://rawstory.com/2010/03/top-homeschool-texts-dismiss-evolution/]Top US home-school texts dismiss evolution | Raw Story[/url][/quote]

Sometimes I get them in classes. They are always the ones going, "What? I've never heard that!" to even the most elementary bits of solid knowledge.

Re: Texas wants to rewrite the US History books
 

[quote=saden1;675285]I believe the real reason why TJ was dropped was because he wrote his own version of the Bible and had a copy the Qur'an. One has to wonder if he was a secret Muslim? Did anyone ever see his birth certificate?[/quote]

I believe he was born in Hawaii but we had better check it out. :)

Re: Texas wants to rewrite the US History books
 

[quote=Lotus;675289]Sometimes I get them in classes. They are always the ones going, "What? I've never heard that!" to even the most elementary bits of solid knowledge.[/quote]

Of course, because the answer to every question is "because God made it that way."

:doh:

Re: Texas wants to rewrite the US History books
 

[quote=firstdown;675283]The problem is that people move here but will not learn the language. Yes. people are unwilling or too lazy to learn the language. I have customers that only one person in the family has learned to speak english. My mother-in-law moved from Germany and she learned to speak english because that is our language and she did not expect us to learn Germany.[/quote]

it takes people time.. these people are typically supporting families, working at least one job, etc.. they don't always have time for English lessons

I seriously doubt that my ancestors (except for maybe the very affluent.. wish I had been direct lineage of them haha) knew English, aside from the British ones. It's easy for us to say learn it, but think of our level of English and how long that took to master? I'd rather someone depend someone else on English if it means that they're making an honest living. Sure there are those who do neither, but there are plenty of people that speak English that don't as well.

Re: Texas wants to rewrite the US History books
 

When I think home schooling, all I can think are those poor brainwashed Jesus Camp kids.

Re: Texas wants to rewrite the US History books
 

To tell the truth some of the best conversations I've had were with people that I couldn't understand. From the grandfather of a Macedonian girl that I worked with where we just kind of got what was going on, an Argentinean girl that rented a room for a bit where we'd sit there with a spanish-english translator book and Babelfish on the computer, etc. God that girl was amazing

Re: Texas wants to rewrite the US History books
 

[quote=Buster;675275]There actually are plenty of ESL programs right now, we all pay for them with taxes.

However, when I go to an ATM or post office, I don't think spending exorbitant money on documents and systems in 8 languages is appropriate or necessary.

Like it or not, English is the language of business and therefore success in this nation. If coming here, they need to know it and use it without the expectation of some that WE cater to THEM.[/quote]


Pssst, these companies aren't required to offer Spanish language ATMs...they do it because they want to do business with Hispanics. You're free to choose your bank, go choose one that doesn't have bilingual ATMs.

Re: Texas wants to rewrite the US History books
 

[quote=Daseal;675297]When I think home schooling, all I can think are those poor brainwashed Jesus Camp kids.[/quote]

hilariously tragic documentary