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by BayouVixen from Santa Fe

Last Post 5 days, 4 hours Ago


... and we thought Justice was dead
Jul 26, 2008 | 7:12 AM
Category: News
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Just about the time we got to thinking that Justice in Texas was indeed dead, he climbs out of the grave and screws this state again.

U.S. District Judge William Wayne Justice -- who last time I remember reading about him had "retired" -- issued a ruling Friday that Texas has until the end of January to "fix" its bilingual education program.

I'm not a fan of bilingual education. It is self-defeating and wasteful because students never learn English, the unofficial official langauge of the United States of America and of Texas. It has become a prop for schools to suck up extra funding by providing a free education to illegal aliens in their own language, simple as that. It is a key factor in the "reconquista" being practiced by the Government of Mexico, creating a distinct, separate Mexican culture that competes with American culture and is in the process of overwhelming it by sheer numbers because of unchecked birth rates.

And Lord knows, I'm no fan of the Texas Education Agency. I've been fighting them since 1995 or so after discovering that the "new standards" they were implementing in this state were, in fact, the same ones Hillary Clinton implemented in Arkansas -- standards that have provided similar results, such as skyrocketing dropout rates and honor graduates who have to take remedial classes before attempting college coursework.

But I'll side with the TEA here. Given the choice between spending money on a harmful program (which it's doing now) and spending even more money on a harmful program to create more votes for Justice's chosen political party, I'd urge the TEA to fight this thing tooth and nail as long as they can.

Or better yet, eliminate bilingual education altogether in favor of immersion. Duh.

"Immersion" is dropping kids straight into English-speaking classrooms, especially in the early grades. Believe it or not, it works.

Unlike bilingual education. In California, Hispanic parents fueled a drive to demand the state end bilingual education in favor of immersion because they were afraid their children would not be able to compete if they spent years getting things in a confusion bilingual way; one poll showed 84 percent favored immersion.The idea of bilingual education, or "facilitation theory," is in fact based on a 1976 study of kids emigrating from FINLAND to SWEDEN. Ja.

Of more than 300 "studies" done supporting the idea of bilingual education, only 72 actually used methodologically-sound research, and 83 percent of those favored immersion.

Judge Justice for years held Texas taxpayers hostage with his legislation from the bench requiring luxuries for Texas prisoners. We shouldn't allow him to do it with our schools; many taxpayers around the state are already at the maximum on property taxes, and in these uncertain economic times that LAST thing we need is higher taxes.  The best way to flick our collective middle fingers at William Wayne Justice is to end bilingual education altogether, immediately.

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chassan read my blog view my photos
Jul 26, 2008 | 9:11 AM

BayouVixen,

While I'm not a TEA fan either, I'm not for elimination of bilingual education. In fact, I'd be open to providing bilingual education to children a year prior to their entering first grade.

As you know, some children are quick learners, some are inattentive, some are slow learners and some have an attention deficit problem. So not all children will pick up English quickly.

Previously, Judge Justice said the state failed to significantly increase the resources allocated to carry out bilingual education and failed to provide remedial or compensatory educational resources for children “who fell behind in academic areas while becoming proficient in English.

The number of non-English speaking students and other Latinos enrolling in Texas public school has more than doubled in recent years, with the number expected to continue to climb.

TEA’s failures in the areas of monitoring and enforcement are of particular concern given the difficulties faced by English-language deficient students who are lagging substantially behind in the Texas schools, whether measured by state-mandated examinations, grade retention or similar indicators of success.

Whether we like it or not, these kids are here to stay, and we need to do all we can to provide them a quality education.

Yea, it'll cost more to educate them, but the costs will be dramatically higher if we end up with students who are poorly educated and unprepared to enter the future workforce.

Those with a poor educational background and low-paying jobs end up using government social and health care pro
chassan read my blog view my photos
Jul 26, 2008 | 9:12 AM

(Continued)

Those with a poor educational background and low-paying jobs end up using government social and health care programs more often and some end up in prison because they thought a life of crime was an easier way to make a living.

Either way, we end up picking up the tab. Better to spend more up front, rather than on the back end.
BayouVixen read my blog view my photos
Jul 26, 2008 | 11:25 AM

We don't HAVE to pick up the tab, Chassan. Send the 40 million invaders home and let them get an education using THEIR taxes.

It's a proven fact that bilingual education does NOT instill English proficiency, it only perpetuates Spanish-only skills. Check the research.
chassan read my blog view my photos
Jul 26, 2008 | 2:58 PM

BayouVixen,

I understand your viewpoint about sending 'em home, but the 12 million illegal immigrants from south of the border aren't going home.

The federal government does not have the resources or capability to send them all back.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, facing intense political pressure to toughen enforcement, removed 221,664 illegal immigrants from the country over the last year, an increase of more than 37,000 — about 20 percent — over the year before, according to the agency’s tally.

The practical answer on immigration is to tighten border security and step up enforcement of action against U.S. employers who knowingly employee illegal immigrants. If U.S. employers weren't hiring illegal aliens, the flood of Mexicans entering the U.S. illegally would decline.

Does bilingual education work? Many people's support for bilingual education has been shaken by recent results showing a short-term
increase in California children's English language scores following the statewide initiative that dramatically cut back on bilingual
educations.

A long-term national study of five schools districts helps to contextualize this result, by demonstrating that short-term gains
achieved by English-medium education are more than overcome by the long-term benefits of bilingual education.

Study findings:

* Students in ESL programs out-perform students in bilingual programs when they first leave those programs, but students in bilingual
programs catch up in English-language testing by middle school and surpass ESL students in high schoo
chassan read my blog view my photos
Jul 26, 2008 | 2:58 PM

Study findings:

* Students in ESL programs out-perform students in bilingual programs when they first leave those programs, but students in bilingual pograms catch up in English-language testing by middle school and surpass ESL students in high school.

* The amount of primary language instruction is the strongest predictor of ultimate second language student achievement

* Bilingual education programs are the only programs to assist language minority students in reaching at least the 50th percentile
in English and all other subjects and to maintain that level of achievement
BayouVixen read my blog view my photos
Jul 26, 2008 | 11:11 PM

Thanks for the update Chassan.
I beg to differ with you on one point, however. If you'll read back through my blogs, you'll find "Si, Se Puede -- Yes, We Can!"
Yes, we need to get downright hardcore on those who employ illegal aliens. They need to face tough fines, loss of business licenses and prison terms.
The thing is, the government is already AWARE of who these traitor employers are. I can name you 30 or 40 of them right now: the contractors working on building all the homes and apartments in League City and surrounding areas. I've docmented them picking up illegals and mailed video CDs to ICE ... and haven't seen a raid one.
The Bush administration makes a show now and then that it's being "tough," but in general is beholden to its corporate buddies, who want the cheap labor. Bush also has visions of being the president of a new North American Union, so he doesn't want to upset our friends from the south.
chassan read my blog view my photos
Jul 27, 2008 | 4:50 PM

BayouVixen,

I agree with you that the government needs to get tougher with employers.

Immigration agents in Houston for years put a lot of their efforts into busting small-time business operations.

Immigration is now trying to work on major employers. Not enough is happening in that area, though.

The feds are hoping to get increased employer compliance with the law through a verification system.

Federal contractors now must verify that their employees are in the United States legally, under an executive order signed by President Bush.

Using E-Verify, an Internet-based system, which is currently voluntary, any employer can check within seconds whether employees are in the United States legally by comparing their information with electronic government records.

If the information doesn't match, the employee can correct the paperwork, often through a trip to a Social Security office.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, more than 69,000 employers now use E-Verify.

Businesses have run more than 4 million employment verification queries through the system in fiscal year 2008. Of those queries, 99.5 percent of qualified employees are cleared automatically.
PBMom read my blog view my photos
Jul 28, 2008 | 10:44 PM

BayouxVixen: Dislike TEA -- join us at
http://texasschoolwatch101.virtualnsn.com/modules/wfcha
nnel/

I believe in order to learn a language, you have to be immersed in it. That is how I learned French. In French class, you were not allowed to speak English. We learned very quickly. If you spoke in English, my French teacher would say, "En francais, s'il vous plait."
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BayouVixen

I am a former newspaper editor, Marine and retailer who is dedicated to wresting Texas and the United States from the control of corporate socialist tyranny and returning control to responsible citizens. When I'm not ranting, I'm a huge fan of science fantasy and science fiction and of authors like CJ Cherryh, Robert Heinlein and Glen Cook.

Member Since: 4/29/2008


 

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