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January 16, 2005

Teachers' Pets

Susan Estrich is angry that California Democrats have killed the nomination of a fellow Democrat to Schwarzenegger's administration.

Why?

Because he took the outrageous position that students who don't speak English natively should have two-and-a-half hours of English immersion per day.

The rest of their schooling would continue to be in their native language; he just wanted two and a half hours per day to learn the language of the country they'd be living in, and working in, for the rest of their lives.

From Kausfiles, who has more analysis and links, including this quote:

"We're in serious trouble if Democrats are going to go on a purge and get rid of every single Democrat who has moderate, mainstream views and doesn't adhere to total orthodoxy as members of the Legislature define it."

I think the Republican Party actually has a lot of unpopular positions and relies upon sometimes-unpopular constituencies. But they'll continue to prosper as long as the Democrats keep this sort of nonsense up.

posted by Ace at 10:22 PM

Comments

Dammit, if you immigrants want to learn English you'd better stay out of our country.

Posted by: TallDave on January 16, 2005 11:57 PM

That's nothing. Wait until the immigrants find out California makes them learn Hamlet in the original Klingon.

Cheers,
Dave at Garfield Ridge

Posted by: Dave at Garfield Ridge on January 17, 2005 12:02 AM

(Shudder)
But... agreeing with Susan Estrich?

My logical mond is screaming for a way out of this box.

Posted by: Bithead on January 17, 2005 12:05 AM

I can speak personally to how ludicrous this is. My girlfriend's parents were first-gen Chinese immigrants, and she was born here. They spoke Cantonese at home and my gf was put in slow classes through most of her pre-college schooling because she did not know English that well. She is a bright person who now holds a graduate degree, as do 2 of her siblings. The only thing that held her back academically was not knowing English well enough.

As Bill Cosby has been pointing out, if you want to succeed in America, you must understand proper English no matter what your cultural heritage is. We shouldn't write off people's lives in the name of some softheaded multiculturalist ideal of "preserving their culture."

Posted by: TallDave on January 17, 2005 12:05 AM

Minneapolis schools did a test and found out that every student no matter what the language could be proficient in English with 6 months of immersion training.

They buried the study as it would mean laying off language teachers if they did the immersion training. The unions control the school systems in Minnesota.

Posted by: jake on January 17, 2005 01:44 AM

We're in serious trouble if Democrats are going to go on a purge and get rid of every single Democrat who has moderate, mainstream views and doesn't adhere to total orthodoxy as members of the Legislature define it

I thought they already did that. Look at the fuss they made about suggesting an anti-abortion Dem replace Pelosi. The vice-chair of the Cal Republicans had a good editorial recently where he warned the Republicans against making the same kind of mistake. When Dems ideologues purged all anti-abortion voices from Dem leadership, all it did was radicalize the party so that they ended up in bed with Michael Moore. If Republicans go down the same road by vilifying the Arlen Specters & Christine Whitmans, they'll deserve what they get.

Posted by: jeff on January 17, 2005 02:11 AM

You have no idea how bad it is here. The latino politicians are actively seeking to hand California over to Mexico. A disturbingly large number of them joined a radical group during college that espoused a belief that the entire Southwest of the US was destined to be taken over by a Latino theme nation.

They don't seem to realize how similar their ideas are to the Ku Klux Klan's maps for a US divided by ethnic zones. Or perhaps they do.

Posted by: Eric Pobirs on January 17, 2005 07:37 AM

We have ways of dealing with collaborators. You think the palestinians are hard on collaborators? You think Zarqawis terrorists are hard on collaborators? What we democrats do to collaborators would turn your stomachs.

Go ahead and live your pathetic ordinary lives. We will take care of the things that need doing.

Posted by: Terminator on January 17, 2005 08:17 AM

Haha, Dave, that reminds me, I had a friend who applied to a college as a minority and specified his ethnicity under "Other" as "Klingon."

He was accepted.

Posted by: TallDave on January 17, 2005 11:52 AM

That is outrageous. These kids shouldn't be in English immersion for two hours a day, they should be in it the entire school day.

Posted by: Alan on January 17, 2005 02:57 PM

I don't get Susan Estrich.

This isn't the first time she has said something that seems to bash the Dem party elites; yet whenever I see her on TV she is spouting off hard core Dem agenda like a female Terry McAuliffe.

Posted by: lauraw on January 17, 2005 04:08 PM

think the Republican Party actually has a lot of unpopular positions and relies upon sometimes-unpopular constituencies. But they'll continue to prosper as long as the Democrats keep this sort of nonsense up.

Could you state which and what?

Seems real general to me....makes me wonder if I am one of those 'unpopular' constituencies...which?

And how so?.....sheesh....talk about an unsupported statement.

Posted by: on January 17, 2005 05:03 PM

I don't get Susan Estrich. This isn't the first time she has said something that seems to bash the Dem party elites; yet whenever I see her on TV she is spouting off hard core Dem agenda like a female Terry McAuliffe.

Because at times she is under contract as a consultant either with the DNC or with the program she is appearing on. Therefore, the views she often expresses, and those expressed by others, are not necessarily their own.

Posted by: julie on January 17, 2005 06:38 PM

Eric Pobirs: Unfortunately, Alberto Gonzales was also (deeply) involved with La Raza.

Posted by: someone on January 17, 2005 10:26 PM

Eh. I know a number of very conservative latino attorneys who have or do belong to La Raza, MALDEF, and MABA. Doesn't mean a whole lot, if much, at all.

Posted by: julie on January 18, 2005 12:27 AM

Posted by: on June 6, 2005 07:48 PM

Posted by: on June 6, 2005 10:02 PM