English, The National Language?
I know that I'm going to sound a bit racist and even inconsiderate but I will give you reasoning behind it. Even if you don't agree with me, that's fine, you have the difference of opinion but know that I don't totally agree with you on this issue.
I've seen some of the bulletins on MySpace coming out about making English the national language and it has some people up in arms that they're legislating hatred towards others from different cultures. I disagree. Leave the foriegn language classes in schools as electives and give the kids who take them the credit but if you're coming into the country with no knowledge of the English language, you suffer the disadvantage.
Why do I say this? Well, let's say I come into your home. As a guest, I must conform to the customs of your home if I have any respect for you whatsoever. If it's my custom to do certain things at certain times, I'll let you know. If it's not cool with you I'll take it somewhere else and come back when I'm done. You would expect this if I were to come into your home and some people would actually let you practice your own customs in their homes. Still, out of respect, I would at least ask your permission to practice any of my customs in your home. With a country, I understand it is a tad different but I think of this. Sure, you should have a working knowledge of the english language prior to coming here if that is what you want to do and it ensures that none of the standards of education are dropped for a few, dropped a little lower for a few more and dropped so low that anyone can get straight "A"s with little to no effort and create an essentially dumbed-down population.
We've given and given and given as a populace only to see what we give being squandered. Hey, I'm all for a little accomodation here but we have to be able to draw the line at one thing...some of us aren't GIVEN these classes to be multilingual.
I tried throughout my entire academic career to get into the Spanish, French and German classes so to strengthen my background in journalism (which I'd chosen and later walked away from) but the ONLY time I was ever given this knowledge was in 5th grade French class and was never again given those classes even though I'd signed up for them. So what do I know? What little German I've learned from friends, Rammstien and KMFDM songs and I've lost what French I know. Now I'm not saying I'm unwilling to learn the other languages because I am more than willing from someone who's experienced, this way, once I go out of country I know what the hell I'm saying to any random people I need to glean information from. Still, if someone comes over here, I would like them to be able to do the same and steer them on the right path if I'm that random person they pick. It's not hatred, it's just respect.
Hey, ya wanna come over here and throw an Oktoberfest on a small scale, cool. Ya wanna come over here and practice Islam, I'm cool with that. Wanna speak your language of origin in your home or to your family, wonderful! Go for it! I'm not saying that you have to speak English everywhere. Sure, make it the national language but temper it with some common sense. We're not asking anyone to make English thier ONLY language. Hell no, far from it. Keep your cultures people. I'm fine with that but everyone that comes into this country needs a working knowledge and comprehension of the English language prior to coming here. So yeah, I agree with that piece of legislation but for reasons. I don't think it's unreasonable to ask that.
What I think is unreasonable is to ask people to speak ONLY english in those countries. If I missed something in that arena, let me know. I've been saying it for a long damn time that reverting back to the English language would help this country greatly. It would help those of us born in this nation who don't have working knowledges of other languages better than making it compulsory to learn these other languages because we keep dropping the standards but I'll tell you what, I'll offer a solution. Why, if English is the national language, would anyone want to learn a foreign language? Ok, you have that but let me throw a little something your way. How about adding that credit for the foreign language elective and, if you use it later on, let the credits you earned in school and your working knowledge and comprehension thereof get you that extra pay...it's called incentive and if offered, people would take it.
Remember that journalism career from which I walked the hell away? Want to know why? Because I found out that I would have to write on a fourth-grade reading level due to the fact that about seventy-five to eighty percent of the U.S. population's reading level. I attribute that to the lowering of standards of education and the truth be told, I'm not taking all these advanced english courses, trying to (and I'm not joking) diagram the shit from Jabberwocky, to reduce my writing to crap that someone who struggles to read on a fourth grade reading level is having a hard time understanding. I do my best to put shit simply because I'm that kind of guy but if I'm going to take statistical math then I'm gonna use it and if you can't understand it, then I can understand that but if I have no understanding of something and you're hopelessly losing me each time, I'll either learn or I won't but that's just me.
Then again, this is my opinion, I could be wrong.
I've seen some of the bulletins on MySpace coming out about making English the national language and it has some people up in arms that they're legislating hatred towards others from different cultures. I disagree. Leave the foriegn language classes in schools as electives and give the kids who take them the credit but if you're coming into the country with no knowledge of the English language, you suffer the disadvantage.
Why do I say this? Well, let's say I come into your home. As a guest, I must conform to the customs of your home if I have any respect for you whatsoever. If it's my custom to do certain things at certain times, I'll let you know. If it's not cool with you I'll take it somewhere else and come back when I'm done. You would expect this if I were to come into your home and some people would actually let you practice your own customs in their homes. Still, out of respect, I would at least ask your permission to practice any of my customs in your home. With a country, I understand it is a tad different but I think of this. Sure, you should have a working knowledge of the english language prior to coming here if that is what you want to do and it ensures that none of the standards of education are dropped for a few, dropped a little lower for a few more and dropped so low that anyone can get straight "A"s with little to no effort and create an essentially dumbed-down population.
We've given and given and given as a populace only to see what we give being squandered. Hey, I'm all for a little accomodation here but we have to be able to draw the line at one thing...some of us aren't GIVEN these classes to be multilingual.
I tried throughout my entire academic career to get into the Spanish, French and German classes so to strengthen my background in journalism (which I'd chosen and later walked away from) but the ONLY time I was ever given this knowledge was in 5th grade French class and was never again given those classes even though I'd signed up for them. So what do I know? What little German I've learned from friends, Rammstien and KMFDM songs and I've lost what French I know. Now I'm not saying I'm unwilling to learn the other languages because I am more than willing from someone who's experienced, this way, once I go out of country I know what the hell I'm saying to any random people I need to glean information from. Still, if someone comes over here, I would like them to be able to do the same and steer them on the right path if I'm that random person they pick. It's not hatred, it's just respect.
Hey, ya wanna come over here and throw an Oktoberfest on a small scale, cool. Ya wanna come over here and practice Islam, I'm cool with that. Wanna speak your language of origin in your home or to your family, wonderful! Go for it! I'm not saying that you have to speak English everywhere. Sure, make it the national language but temper it with some common sense. We're not asking anyone to make English thier ONLY language. Hell no, far from it. Keep your cultures people. I'm fine with that but everyone that comes into this country needs a working knowledge and comprehension of the English language prior to coming here. So yeah, I agree with that piece of legislation but for reasons. I don't think it's unreasonable to ask that.
What I think is unreasonable is to ask people to speak ONLY english in those countries. If I missed something in that arena, let me know. I've been saying it for a long damn time that reverting back to the English language would help this country greatly. It would help those of us born in this nation who don't have working knowledges of other languages better than making it compulsory to learn these other languages because we keep dropping the standards but I'll tell you what, I'll offer a solution. Why, if English is the national language, would anyone want to learn a foreign language? Ok, you have that but let me throw a little something your way. How about adding that credit for the foreign language elective and, if you use it later on, let the credits you earned in school and your working knowledge and comprehension thereof get you that extra pay...it's called incentive and if offered, people would take it.
Remember that journalism career from which I walked the hell away? Want to know why? Because I found out that I would have to write on a fourth-grade reading level due to the fact that about seventy-five to eighty percent of the U.S. population's reading level. I attribute that to the lowering of standards of education and the truth be told, I'm not taking all these advanced english courses, trying to (and I'm not joking) diagram the shit from Jabberwocky, to reduce my writing to crap that someone who struggles to read on a fourth grade reading level is having a hard time understanding. I do my best to put shit simply because I'm that kind of guy but if I'm going to take statistical math then I'm gonna use it and if you can't understand it, then I can understand that but if I have no understanding of something and you're hopelessly losing me each time, I'll either learn or I won't but that's just me.
Then again, this is my opinion, I could be wrong.
posted by Lord Genocyde at 2:07 PM
2 Comments:
Git em'!!Tell it like it is bro!!I agree.You have to conform or be left standing there like a ding-dong.
I believe I would rather get w/ the program,wouldn't you? It just makes good sense.
Yup...that's MY view for whatever it's worth.
Exactly...and I'm tired of these people telling me to go "fack" myself
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