English Usage by Latinos a "Flash Point"

- article by Shirin Hakimzadeh and D'Vera Cohn, Pew Hispanic Center

Virtually all hipanics born in the United States are proficient speakers of English, in comparsion less than a quarter of Spanish-speaking immigrants consider themselves fluent speakers of of English, a disparaging statistic. The statistic, derived from a survey of over fourteen thousand Latino adults, show a significant increase in English literacy progressively from one generation to the next. The statistic reflect an increase of over one-hundred percent in fluency from the first to second generations. The increase in fluency levels out after the third generation which reports indicate has an English literacy rate of 94 percent.

Not only does fkuency and literacy increase through the generations, the very use of English increases. English language usage increases in the work place and even in the homes of Latin Americans across generations. In the case of immigrants and early generations, the English language use increase does not correlate with the predominant use of the English language; this occurs in their adult children with surprising frequency.

The surveys indicates that Latino immigrants the likelihood that a Latin American speaks English well and uses it regularly, increases if they have a higher eduation, arrived in the United States as children or have lived in the Unites States for many years. College education seems to have the greatest correlation with English speaking ability and literacy. Accordning to this survey, of the major Hispanic denominations, Puerto Ricans and South Americans are the likelist to have be adept English users; Mexicans are the least likely to say so.

I think discrimination plays a role in language acquisition. Whether it be a teacher that purposefully "misteaches" her minority students, or a student whose non compliance prompts him to not use the language. Discrimination whether it be blatant or subversive, intentional or instituted, plays a role in the ability of young people to become skilled English speakers and readers. Mexico has many fine universtities. I think being Mexican carries a dangerous connotation in the United States and this is why compared to other Latin Americans they are misrepresented in the realm of fluent speakers of English.

Why is it that not all second-generation, American born hispanics speak english? Why is it 88% and not 99%? Are the remaining children 22 percent not being schooled at all?

Long School Days

The article that I read was about a school in Massachusetts that extended its school days in order to give teachers more time to teach their students. As a result, the school did better on state mandated exams. It is really hard to argue with this article, when it is pretty clear that extending school hours had a positive effect on the school. It would be ridiculous to stop this for the reason that students don't want to be in school any longer then they have to. All I know is I'm glad I finished high school before anyone thought of this.

Clearly extending the day does work because Massachusetts has seen a lot of results. However, how far are people willing to take this? The longer you make the school day, the more likely your going to cut into other things like after school activities and sports. Although educators may not see those things as a big deal, for the students it is. School is not just about learning, it is also where students gain socialization skills and it is a place where they can try out their skills. If extra curricular activities are taken away as well as sports, students might find it hard to socialize with other people. Also, the more time students are spending at school the less they are spending at home or at a job, which could effective their lives on a larger scale.

4th Graders Losing Ground on Literacy

The article I read is about the 4th grade literacy level decreasing in the United States, compared to other countries. The entire article shows which countries have surpassed us, as well as where are 4th grade literacy level use to be at. However, the article does not ask why this decline in literacy is taking place. I think that everyone forgets to ask this question, and this is one of the biggest reasons illiteracy isn't being taken care of. If we can figure out why there is such a decline in the 4th grade literacy level, then maybe we can solve the problem. Everyone is so concerned with which countries are doing better that they forget what's really important, which is the students that aren't making the grade. It seems so simple to me that the best way to improve the literacy of 4th graders, is by figuring out the problem, and fixing it. Maybe teachers need to ask their students why they are struggling with reading, opposed to just ignoring the fact that there is a problem. Stop looking so hard at the numbers and look more at why there is a problem.

Too Much School Testing:

North Carolina has recently decided that there is too much focus on testing in their schools. They say that they take up too much learning time and that they are not producing the results that they are supposed to.

Can anyone else hear the collective “Huzzah” from the students? Now if only all states could have this epiphany. I know I would have had a lot more fun in my high school classes if there had been fewer state tests. I most certainly agree that too much time is being spent on testing and not enough on actual learning. Maybe North Carolina will help prove this to the rest of the states.

No College Plans, No Diploma:

I was kind of intrigued by the article about Boston schools not allowing kids to graduate without college plans. I can see how this would be a good idea, especially since there seem to be plans to help kids make up their minds a little sooner. And in our world today it is almost entirely necessary to have at least two years of college if you want a decent enough job to earn a living with. And yet, the pessimistic side of me can’t help but think that not allowing kids to graduate without plans for college, especially in city schools, might increase the number of dropouts. But maybe I’m completely wrong about that, and even if there is a slight increase in the dropout rate, if other students are better prepared for their continuing education and career path selection then perhaps it is worth it.

Maryland’s Graduation Requirement Changes:

Maryland recently decided to make the passing of certain tests mandatory for students to earn their diplomas. However, they also added in two ways to help students who may struggle in certain subjects or with written exams in general. First, the test scores for each section are all added up, similar to the SAT, and if the overall grade fits within a set range it is considered passing. Secondly, if a student does not do well on a certain exam they can choose to bring up their grade with an assigned project.

Personally I like this idea. As horribly as I did in some courses in high school (namely math and science) having a fall-back option like the project would have definitely have taken the stress level of those courses down a lot. But I wonder if students might rely too heavily on those fall-back options. I think whoever is in charge of those projects should be prepared because in a few years students may have realized that they can still pass without studying for the big test.