FACTS

[EarnedStripes44]

Well I am glad you are on the winning end of globalization as am I, despite our debt. However, we are getting away from my original argument about English being the official language. Need I point out, it was you who stated "Yeah but you (meaning immigrants, I presume) wouldn't be aware of them [bigger issues] unless you can understand English". With respect to my descriptions of Paris and other travels I have embarked upon I need not bicker with you, arguing against your foggy memory is an exercise in futility. You mentioned you used to work for a multi-national corporation, how long ago was that? What airport in France did you fly into, was it Orly, because Charles De Gaulle may not have built by then. Enlighten me with your 22 years of travel expertise, because your closed fisted outlook seems to have left little room to absorb alternate points of view (things a well travelled person surely would have picked up). I am not asking to believe what I believe, but you don't respect the logic behind what I am saying. I am not trying to be to personal but are you bilingual (no insinuation necessary)?

Anyway, back to the guilt. I prefer gratitude, because although we exercise a fair degree of choice, I am very fortunate to be the in the position that I am in. On the otherhand, I do acknowledge that their are winners and there are losers in this world. The pickings are slim for those just now entering the game with nothing, expecting to win. Our standard of living is on its way down look at inflation versus disposable income trends. Why make it harder? What do you have to lose if some immigrant family prefers to speak spanish in their Chelsea tenement home, or if adequate spanish or chinese profiency is a mandatory requirement for a high school degree? Its far easier and takes less energy being tolerant as opposed to intolerant, but I am sure you know that, being from Plymouth and all, a community that is 95% white.....which brings me to my next point.

Now we are going to get a little off topic for the moment. So as we know the supreme court voted in favor of allowing kids to go to neighborhood schools over racial diversity quotas. Well let's look at urban settlement patterns. You can't miss an urban black neighborhood unless you were blind. There are very few places in the United States, where you will find blacks and whites living together in a localized neighborhood, very few!!! Terms like the other side of tracks arose from those settlement patterns. The concept of the inner-city ghetto supports that. The schools in the inner city urban black ghetto (although not necessarily racially motivated, more out of negligence....just my opinion) are just not as good as those in white communities even when they are in the same municipality. So how can we say things are fair, equal and balanced with a straight face, when black youth are confined to these "neighborhood schools" and white youth get to go to there "neighborhood schools" because diversity is no longer a requirement. I think diverse schools throughout the same school district are the best way to ensure equal distribution of resources, not to mention the benefits of pluralism. I dont think whites should carry blacks, and I am sick of the victimhood that the media consumes like pigs at a trough on the behalf of certain swindling agitators in pursuit of political glory, but I think if things are equitable, blacks will help themselves. The achievement gap is narrowing and there are more southern blacks in college now than there ever where before. Let us not reverse the clock.

[stripersnipr]

Originally Posted by EarnedStripes44

Need I point out, it was you who stated "Yeah but you (meaning immigrants, I presume) wouldn't be aware of them [bigger issues] unless you can understand English".


That really isn't hard to figure out. Hand a copy of the Boston Globe to a non-english speaking person and then quiz them on the specifics of the bigger issues reported that day. Or sit them down in front of MSNBC, CNN or and see what they garner from it. Learning to speak English in America gives that person a clear advantage to succeed in this country. Arguing that we are obligated to instead put our language aside and learn theirs to give them that advantage is ludicrous.

What do you have to lose if some immigrant family prefers to speak spanish in their Chelsea tenement home, or if adequate spanish or chinese profiency is a mandatory requirement for a high school degree?

I could care less whether Chelsea tenement dwellers choose to converse in Spanish or not. I do not however feel compelled to provide them with an education in their native language or spend increasing amounts of some of that alleged dwindling expendable income you note to accomodate those who choose not to learn our language. Nor do I feel compelled to provide electoral ballots, or street signs to them in 25 languages. When I was in High School foreign language study was required but it was not mandated to a specific language. I opted for French. It came in handy in French restaurants, but that was about the extent of it. I'm sure some of our compassionate friends would love to mandate Spanish to our kids but the choice of what langauge they choose to study should be up to them. I do feel it is our responsibilty to provide English classes to all legal immigrants who intend to become American citizens.

My Great-Grand parents were very succesful in their immigration to this country as most were in those days. Learning English was the cornerstone of that success.


Its far easier and takes less energy being tolerant as opposed to intolerant, but I am sure you know that, being from Plymouth and all, a community that is 95% white.....which brings me to my next point.


Is there something wrong with living in a 95% white town? Do you think the Real Estate agent whispered that to us before we bought? Should we force some of us out and some minorities in to balance things out? Shame on all 95% of us I guess. Should I be guilt ridden over this?

Extensive travel and having international co-workers from 1983 to 2005 gives one a real life perspective of the alternatives to life in America and to gain an appreciation for things that many appear to despise and seek to change. I had an advantage many did not.

[spence]

Originally Posted by stripersnipr

...and having international co-workers from 1983 to 2005

Is that what you call all those illegal laborers you hired

-spence