letter from the school. daughters grades. am i wrong?

[SunnyD]

ohh nice. i suspect that would cause more problems then we have LOL

Feel free to modify as you see fit. That was just a rough draft.

 

[TallBill]

Fuck Spanish or French being mandatory in high school. Its an asinine requirement.

 

[OlafSicky]

By the time she graduates from school Spanish will be a majority language she should learn it. Ignoring Spanish seems racist to me. Definately very disrespectful to Spanish speaking people.

 

[SunnyD]

By the time she graduates from school Spanish will be a majority language she should learn it. Ignoring Spanish seems racist to me. Definately very disrespectful to Spanish speaking people.

And yet the official language of the United States is English.

Forcing a foreign language class upon English-speaking US Citizens is very disrespectful to the country's citizens.

 

[mnewsham]

And yet the official language of the United States is English.

Forcing a foreign language class upon English-speaking US Citizens is very disrespectful to the country's citizens.

wrong, there is no actual official US language, but some states have English as the official language, but nothing for the whole country.

There is no "official" language for the United States, although some individual states list English as their official language. If you would like the United States or your state to adopt an official language, you should contact your elected officials.

 

[Mixolydian]

And yet the official language of the United States is English.

Well, it's the "de facto" language.

 

[mnewsham]

Well, it's the "de facto" language.

yes, but far from officially recognized by the government

 

[waggy]

By the time she graduates from school Spanish will be a majority language she should learn it. Ignoring Spanish seems racist to me. Definately very disrespectful to Spanish speaking people.

and its not disrespectful to come to the US that uses English and not learn it? To force it's people to learn a language because they don't want to?

good god. guess i don't want to hurt the feeling of illegal immigrants!

Feel free to modify as you see fit. That was just a rough draft.

lo what i wanted to say was bad enough. lol

 

[darkswordsman17]

She is 10 in the 5th grade.

She hates spanish and really does not care for the class. she loves math, science and computers (not as much though).

Also talked with her (went to pick her up from practice). The letter claims my daughter said that the reason her grade is low is becuase she spends to much time in gymnastics.

i asked my daughter about that and she said that now way has she ever said that or anything close. she knows if she did she would be pulled from gymnastics ASAP. She says the teacher is confused about the situation (pretty nice way of saying the teacher is telling a lie).

I did kinda chew her out for the fact a D is going to make it harder to get into college (and yes she really wants to go). so she did promise to try to get it higher but nearly end of year.


She just hates the class and thinks its boring.

Oh wow, then shit who cares. Maybe get her one of those language learning software so she can ace the class and flip the bird to the teacher. Durr, nevermind forgot what time it was. Well it'll be over soon enough but its good you didn't act like it was just ok to do poorly since she dislikes it.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Not all immigrants are illegal. There's nothing wrong with them speaking other languages. Yes, them not speaking English is an issue, which is why being able to communicate to them in their primary language to help assist education in general is worthwhile. It actually helps acclimate them and transition them to be "typical Americans" better.

Eh fuck it, no sense arguing with people when it comes to language and communication since people's grasp of even their own supposed language is dogshit and they don't understand how well our brains actually adapt to language or how much people already work with non-English language.

We should move to binary, and just let all dumbfucks that can't learn it move to the fucking sewers. Plus it'll help us repel the coming machine wars!

Fuck Spanish or French being mandatory in high school. Its an asinine requirement.

No its not. IIRC there's actually a pretty strong correlation between teaching multiple languages and overall aptitude when it comes to education. Its in schools' best interest to do it, just like making any fucking class mandatory. Hell, I bet most people would benefit more from a secondary language class than they would from history (and no I'm not saying history is worthless at all).

 

[waggy]

No its not. IIRC there's actually a pretty strong correlation between teaching multiple languages and overall aptitude when it comes to education. Its in schools' best interest to do it, just like making any fucking class mandatory. Hell, I bet most people would benefit more from a secondary language class than they would from history (and no I'm not saying history is worthless at all).

i agree. i just wish they allowed the kids to choose the language. She has NO interest in spanish. Though she is trying to teach herself German (i have family in Germany she would love to visit. she talks to them on the phone often).

 

[SunnyD]

yes, but far from officially recognized by the government

All of our legal documents defining government are written in... Spanish?

Official, defacto, I really don't give a crap. I had my choice of Spanish or French in high school. I took Spanish because it was easier. Almost 20 years later, I retained maybe 5% of what I was taught. Enough to get by even as a tourist? Nope.

In retrospect, if I were to do it over and learn any language at this point, I'd take Chinese for business purposes.

 

[Wyndru]

She will be fine, just increase her amount of time watching Dora the Explorer and everything will work itself out.

 

[SunnyD]

She will be fine, just increase her amount of time watching Dora the Explorer and everything will work itself out.

From my point of view, the only Spanish words and phrases that one really needs to know as of today:

- Hola
- Adios
- Gracias
- Por favor
- Taco, chalupa, enchilada, etc. (whatever person's favorite Mexican dish is basically)
and
- ¿Donde esta el baño? (for when you get done with said favorite Mexican dish)

Yes, I'm being an idiot at this point, but honestly I live in a town that happens to have a large immigrant population rotate through regularly. I also happen to work in a highly technical company which is typical of the area, and walking down the halls is like walking through the United Nations - on any given day I will hear no less than German, Russian, Chinese and Indian languages (and on atypical days I will here possibly a half-dozen more). Speaking Spanish is no more important in the US than any other language at this point, save potentially Chinese due to the sheer amount of business on ALL levels that we do with Asia in general.

That, and my favorite hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant does just fine with it's English, given that ALL of its employees are immigrants.

 

[Ns1]

WOW this is 5th grade?

who gives a fuck what your teacher says cuz none of this is going to matter.

 

[NFS4]

the grade is irrelevant, the attitude is not

while it's true that grades in the 6th grade don't matter to college, it's about setting standards and TEACHING her to apply herself to something she doesn't like.

in life there are going to be lots of things we'll have to do that we don't like, but that's no excuse to not do them well

the 'i only do what i want to do' attitude needs to be nipped in the bud

Of all the posts in this thread, this one gets to the heart of the issue. Put your foot down now.

It's not the grade, it's the lack of even trying and attitude. I'd be a lot more lenient if my child was working hard at it and doing poorly versus doing poorly just because they don't give a shit.

That attitude is unacceptable.

 

[episodic]

Find out if she really needs it. My son's school swore they had to have it, but when I delved into the 'actual' requirements - he did not. I didn't make him take it - he is a math major now - that in itself should count as a foreign language.

 

[Imp]

the grade is irrelevant, the attitude is not

while it's true that grades in the 6th grade don't matter to college, it's about setting standards and TEACHING her to apply herself to something she doesn't like.

in life there are going to be lots of things we'll have to do that we don't like, but that's no excuse to not do them well

the 'i only do what i want to do' attitude needs to be nipped in the bud

Going to agree with this. She's got another decade of having to attend mandatory classes that are pointless and stupid. May as well learn to suck it up now.

On the other hand, just be happy that you're not in Canada. French is mandatory for grade 9 and, I think, a few grades before that. It ranks number 18 and it's only an "official language" in Canada to kiss ass to Quebec separatists. I took French from grade 4 to 10 and still suck at it. I didn't really learn anything until grade 9. Before that, it was memorization, and arts and crafts but in French -- probably the same for grade 5 Spanish.

Top three languages in the world are:
1. English
2. Mandarin
3. Spanish

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_total_number_of_speakers

Nudging her towards Spanish isn't a bad idea -- third most spoken in the world, used in the US, and large worldwide geographic coverage. German is much lower on that list with usage in/around Germany only as far as I know.

I speak/read/write one language fluently, speak 1 conversationally, speak 1 at a first grade level, and speak/read/write 1 at a fourth (?) grade level. I regret not learning more as a kid.

P.S. Remind yourself that all the people saying Spanish is stupid/pointless are on a tech forum.

 

[SunnyD]

Going to agree with this. She's got another decade of having to attend mandatory classes that are pointless and stupid. May as well learn to suck it up now.

And then get into the real world where all of those pointless and stupid mandatory classes have absolutely no bearing on what she does for the rest of her life. May as well suck it up now.

Honestly, as a gymnast, shouldn't she be learning an eastern bloc language or Chinese anyway?

 

[Leros]

And then get into the real world where all of those pointless and stupid mandatory classes have absolutely no bearing on what she does for the rest of her life. May as well suck it up now.

The actual class material may have no bearing on what she does, but there are good life lessons to be learned here. Learning to excel at something that you don't personally value is a very useful skill to have.

 

[TecHNooB]

is spanish useful? if you want to talk to tech companies overseas, it's usually chinese, japanese,korean.

 

[_Rick_]

Forcing a foreign language class upon English-speaking US Citizens is very disrespectful to the country's citizens.

Can't tell if serious

 

[Imp]

The actual class material may have no bearing on what she does, but there are good life lessons to be learned here. Learning to excel at something that you don't personally value is a very useful skill to have.

Not to mention learning to take it up the ass just cause your boss said so. Some people really can't hold down jobs because of this "skill" or "discipline".

is spanish useful? if you want to talk to tech companies overseas, it's usually chinese, japanese,korean.

If you don't want to work in tech and end up running into any of the 52 million Hispanic/latino people in the US (Wikipedia), knowing their native language gives you an instant advantage. In case the US ever forms business relationships with South/Central America, you won't need a translator and, again, instant connection with potential clients.

 

[Murloc]

I think learning languages is very useful because you never know what you'll do in life at that age and it opens your mind to different cultures.

It should be obligatory because learning a language from scratch when you're an adult is much more difficult because your brain is not so flexible anymore.
The second language should be started in elementary school for this reason.

I also wouldn't discount the fact that in the future, spanish will become the majority language in more areas. At some point, especially since the constitution doesn't say anything about it, a state could be taken over by spanish speakers. With the current reproductive rates, it will happen, especially since they have critical mass to keep using the language even if they're born in the US.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

The importance of learning Spanish or any other language isn't really relevant. The $64,000 question is whether you think it's a good life lesson to teach kids to blow off anything that's hard or that they don't enjoy. She might not like or need Spanish, but she damn well needs to be taught the importance of working hard at things that don't come so easily.