For those of you who recently expressed surprise that people in America advocate for “English only” laws, read this –
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich equated bilingual education Saturday with “the language of living in a ghetto” and mocked requirements that ballots be printed in multiple languages.
“The government should quit mandating that various documents be printed in any one of 700 languages depending on who randomly shows up” to vote, said Gingrich, who is considering seeking the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. He made the comments in a speech to the National Federation of Republican Women.
“The American people believe English should be the official language of the government. … We should replace bilingual education with immersion in English so people learn the common language of the country and they learn the language of prosperity, not the language of living in a ghetto,” Gingrich said to cheers from the crowd of more than 100.
“Citizenship requires passing a test on American history in English. If that’s true, then we do not have to create ballots in any language except English,” he said.
Peter Zamora, co-chair of the Washington-based Hispanic Education Coalition, which supports bilingual education, said, “The tone of his comments were very hateful. Spanish is spoken by many individuals who do not live in the ghetto.”
He said research has shown “that bilingual education is the best method of teaching English to non-English speakers.”
Spanish-speakers, Zamora said, know they need to learn English.
“There’s no resistance to learning English, really, among immigrants, among native-born citizens,” he said. “Everyone wants to learn English because it’s what you need to thrive in this country.”
In the past, Gingrich has supported making English the nation’s official language. He’s also said all American children should learn English and that other languages should be secondary in schools.
In 1995, for example, he said bilingualism poses “long-term dangers to the fabric of our nation” and that “allowing bilingualism to continue to grow is very dangerous.”
Bilingual programs teach students reading, arithmetic and other basic skills in their native language so they do not fall behind while mastering English.
On voting, federal law requires districts with large populations of non-English speakers to print ballots in multiple languages.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
There’s a part of me that groans at the thought that Gingrich is still around, much less considering a run for the Presidency (God help our country). But to see such racist and self centered talk coming from a person in a position of power is sad. America is full of itself, we are mostly monolingual in this global economy, and we think we can do whatever we want to the rest of the world. Besides helping us stop being complete jerks, how exactly is bilingualism dangerous? I desperately would like for my child to have a bilingual education. There are schools where she can be immersed in two or more languages – helping her learn language when she is most able to and broadening her knowledge of the world. I don’t want her to be a self centered ugly American who thinks everyone else is beneath her. But if politicians like Newt force racism down our throats, she may not easily get that chance (or will be ridiculed for her tolerant global liberal ideas – but mommy gets enough of that and can teach her how to cope…).