Immigration and American English
Sunday, December 23, 2007, 10:37 PM - Education - USA
Immigration and American English. An education article.
I was born and raised in America. I have been married for over 40 years to a beautiful, intelligent and wonderful woman who was born and raised in Mexico. My wife came here, legally, with her family in 1960.

Yesterday I read in the paper about an 'idiot' who runs a Cheesesteak restaurant, Geno's Steaks, who several months ago posted a sign on the window of his restaurant that states "This is America. When Ordering, Please Speak English".

Now, I am against illegal immigration, amnesty, the farm worker program, voters ballots in languages other than American English and bilingual education. However, telling people who don't speak American English that they are not welcome as customers if they don't or can't order in English is going too far.

I have a fantastic mother-in-law who has lived in the United States for almost 46 years. When she first came to this country she attended night school in order to learn English. She is very intelligent but she dropped out of classes and to this day, although she does understand a fair amount of English and when speaking with someone that she feels comfortable with she can speak English, she does not speak English in public. Why doesn't she speak English in public. It's because so many Americans are rude and inconsiderate.

My mother-in-law, except when she is around her family and friends is a very shy person. She is also a very proud and dignified person and does not handle ridicule well. When she first came to this country and even to this day when she speaks English some Americans ridicule her. She gets so embarrassed that she finds it better to speak in Spanish.

My mother-in-law is an American citizen. She has raised nine (9) wonderful children all of whom are also American citizens. She is not a welfare recipient, she has no criminal record, she raised her children while working as a piece worker in a sweat shop (in Mexico she was a well respected woman who was in the above middle income class).

Her nine (9) children all became homeowners, none of them have - Immigration and American English for the complete article.

Submitted by:
Barry Arcant
Legal Resources Services

American Students Drop to 13-Year Low in Reading Test
Tuesday, August 28, 2007, 10:16 AM - Education - USA
American Students Drop to 13-Year Low in Reading Test. An education article.
American students graduating from high school this year scored a 13-year low in reading ability as measured by the most widely taken college entrance exam.

Reading scores on the SAT declined 1 point to 502 after a 5- point drop last year, the test's operator, the College Board, reported today. The decline in 2006 was the largest in three decades. Average math results fell 3 points to 515, and writing grades, 3 points to 494.

The results for the test, taken by 1.5 million high school students, contradict findings from the rival ACT exam, which rose for the third time in five years. Harvard College, Brown University and the University of Pennsylvania said competition for freshman-class positions intensified this year. Harvard accepted a record low 9 percent of applicants.

``It sort of confirms the sense in which education in our country is really a tale of two cities,'' said Barmak Nassirian, a spokesman for the American Association of College Registrars and Admissions Officers.

Admissions executives at selective schools report ``a generation of hyper-qualified candidates, the likes of which they've never seen,'' Nassirian said. ``Then you get numbers like this, which presumably paint a broader picture, and seem to speak of a general decline.''

The College Board in a statement described the long-term trend in SAT reading scores as ``essentially flat'' and said the direction of math results is up, even after a 5-point drop over the past two years. The average math grade was still 14 points higher than 20 years ago.

Ethnic, Demographic Groups

College Board officials, while downplaying the one-year declines as statistically insignificant at a press conference today, said they think the increasing diversity of the test- taking population is pushing scores down. They said the class of 2007 had the largest number of SAT-takers ever. Maine now requires all high school students, including those not going to college, to take the SAT, leading to a 41 percent increase of test-takers there. - See American Students Drop to 13-Year Low in Reading Test for the full report.

California high schoolers improve on exit exam
Friday, August 24, 2007, 11:47 AM - Education - USA
California high schoolers improve on exit exam But the achievement gap for poor and minority students persists. An education article.
More seniors are passing the state's high school exit exam, but failure rates among poor and minority students remain disproportionately high, and dropouts are not counted in the state's numbers, the state Department of Education said Thursday.

As of May, the pass rate for the class of 2007 was 93.3%, a 2.1 percentage point increase over the class of 2006 for that period. The pass rate also was higher for some lower-scoring groups, including African American students, who saw a gain of 4.7 percentage points. Latino students saw a gain of 3.1 points, and economically disadvantaged students 2.6 points.

"What a difference a year makes," said state Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell. "The exit exam is now an accepted part of our accountability system. I like to call it the capstone."

The figures also do not include students with disabilities, who have been exempted from passing the mandatory exam.

Because of dropout rates and other factors, graduating classes at urban high schools in Los Angeles and elsewhere are typically less than half the size of ninth-grade classes.

Critics have alleged that the exit exam pushes many students to drop out while unfairly denying diplomas -- which translate directly to higher wages and job opportunities -- to students who would otherwise qualify. Parents and activists sued the state on grounds that students were being penalized for a system that had failed them.

State officials estimate that 3% to 6% of seniors fail to graduate solely because of the exit exam. Students can take the test multiple times, beginning in 10th grade. Since last year, nearly 5,000 seniors statewide who failed the exam and didn't graduate have since passed the test.

Exam opponents made little headway in court and finally settled litigation in exchange for an agreement to codify in law programs to help students pass the test. Such efforts are already in place throughout most of the state.

School districts, for example, can receive $500 for every senior who has yet to pass the test. The terms of the settlement await ratification by the Legislature. A lawsuit over whether disabled students must take the test is continuing, officials said. - See California high schoolers improve on exit exam for the complete article.

American History - Or What Our Children Are Not Being Taught
Saturday, July 28, 2007, 05:17 PM - Education - USA
American History - Or What Our Children Are Not Being Taught. An education article.
As Bubba and I were taking our morning stroll, I met a young girl from the neighborhood. As I had not seen her for a while, I stopped to chat with her.

She was holding a note book and I asked why. She explained this was the last day of summer school for her and she was waiting for the bus.

I was confused. School had only ended a few short weeks ago, how could this be the last day of summer school? She explained summer school only lasted five days. This confused me even more. I asked how could someone learn enough in five days to pass a subject when they had all term to learn it and failed. She did not know.

I asked what subject was she taking and she replied Social Studies, which turned out to be American History. OK, so what have you learned about American History in five days? She replied, nothing. Our teacher gives us a paper with questions and the page the answer is on. We look up the page and write the answer.

I asked if she had at least read the book. She could not because they were not allowed to take the book home with them.

This girl, in the 9th grade, had heard about the Revolutionary War and Civil War. She had heard of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. She had no idea what the Constitution was or what it said. She had no idea our government is divided into three equal parts. I asked her what the Executive Branch, Congress, and the Judicial Branch of our government were. She had no idea what I was talking about. She heard of the Bill of Rights but what it was or what it said she could not answer.

I can understand not learning Peter Minuet purchased Manhattan Island for $24 worth of trinkets. I can understand not learning Roger Williams walked the boundaries of Rhode Island. To a certain degree I can understand not learning about "Common Sense' written by Thomas Paine or the writings of John Locke, because today both would be considered terrorists and arrested for what they wrote, even though our Declaration of Independence is based, in part, on those writings. She had heard about the Declaration of Independence but was not sure exactly what it was. - See American History - Or What Our Children Are Not Being Taught for the full article.

Ending Discrimination in Schools.
Monday, July 16, 2007, 12:31 PM - Education - USA
Ending Discrimination in Schools. An education article.An intriguing ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court could re-open discussion about the brainwashing that occurs in all-too-many public school classrooms these days.

The High Court this week issued a thumbs-down to so-called "diversity" plans in two large school districts that use race as a factor in assigning students. According to an Associated Press report, the ruling could affect not only schools in Seattle and Louisville, but could impact like-minded plans in hundreds of school systems around the country.

Chief Justice John Roberts said the school districts involved "failed to show that they considered methods other than explicit racial classifications to achieve their stated goals." Roberts and the rest of the Court majority believe that the proposals in Seattle and Louisville conflicted with Constitutional guarantees for equal protection. Granted, the Court was split 5-4, but a decision is a decision, and one can only hope this decision deals a fatal blow to ill-conceived race-based school policies.

Of course, liberals are already offering a knee-jerk assessment of the decision. Justice Stephen Breyer in his dissent said, "To invalidate the plans under review is to threaten the promise of Brown (v. Board of Education)."

But wasn't the dream of civil rights leader Martin Luther King to establish a society when people weren't judged on race, but on the content of their character? As the Bush Administration argued, racial diversity may be a noble goal, but it should only be achieved by race-neutral means.

Lawyer Teddy Gordon argued that the Louisville district's plan was a form of discrimination. In the AP report, he's quoted as saying," Clearly, we need better race-neutral alternatives. Instead of spending zillions of dollars around the country to place a black child next to a white child, let's reduce class size. All the schools are equal. We will no longer accept that an African-American majority within a school is unacceptable." - See
Ending Discrimination in Schools for the complete article.