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Should Spanish Be a Required Subject in School?

gungadin said:
Spanish is also predicted to become the world's second most spoken language (after Chinese) by 2050.
newamericamedia.org/2011/02/us-will-be-biggest-spanish-speaking-country-by-2050-says-scholar.php

Should Spanish be a required subject in school? If so, for which states and starting in what grades?

Pam
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No, it should not be required. And based on your evidence provided, you sound like you are arguing that Chinese be a required language before being required to learn Spanish.
 
Learning a foreign language should be compulsory. It's an excellent mental discipline for kids to have that other subjects do not give. Whether it should be Spanish is a different matter. In those states where there is a substantial Spanish majority it might be sensible and would contribute to social harmony, but whichever language is chosen, it's a good idea to choose one that the student might have a good chance of using regularly later in life. If you don't use it, you lose it. Perhaps French in states bordering Quebec, and Louisiana. Perhaps German or Scandiwegian languages in the midwest. Chinese and Japanese could be an option for high-achievers.

Schoolkids here take compulsory English from age 6, unfortunately the standard of English teaching out here in the sticks is very poor. Spaniards really struggle with English pronunciation for some reason.
 
Better yet, get rid of those who only speak Spanish if they are illegal aliens.
What a blessing for America to rid itself of low IQ mestizo types.
 
Samhain said:
No, it should not be required. And based on your evidence provided, you sound like you are arguing that Chinese be a required language before being required to learn Spanish.
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When Chinese-English bilingualism becomes a job requirement for as many jobs as currently require Spanish-English bilingualism, I will advocate making Chinese a requirement in school.

Pam
 
No. Only thing you should be required to learn is English in America, and it should stay that way.

It's not required in Florida.

However, it doesn't hurt. The reason I want to learn Spanish one of these days has nothing to do with the politics of the matter, but I have numerous Hispanic friends and already pick up on some of the stuff they say these days. But, forcing people is silly.
 
gungadin said:
When Chinese-English bilingualism becomes a job requirement for as many jobs as currently require Spanish-English bilingualism, I will advocate making Chinese a requirement in school.

Pam
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Please post some statistics concerning what you just brought up:

jobs requiring English
jobs requiring Spanish-English
jobs requiring Chinese-English
 
Longstreet said:
Better yet, get rid of those who only speak Spanish if they are illegal aliens.
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Why not just say, get rid of illegal aliens? I would support that. But out of curiosity, Spanish speakers make up damn near half of the population of New Mexico. When Spanish surpassses English as the majority language in that state, will you take a stand against requiring English, the language of the minority?

Pam
 
gungadin said:
Why not just say, get rid of illegal aliens? I would support that. But out of curiosity, Spanish speakers make up damn near half of the population of New Mexico. When Spanish surpassses English as the majority language in that state, will you take a stand against requiring English, the language of the minority?

Pam
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Please check your statistics. They do not represent Spanish-only speakers.
 
A second language should be required, however I think there should be several to chose from.
 
gungadin said:
Yes, and while we're at it, why don't we stop plate tetonics or stop needing to breathe oxygen. These are the facts. It's plain silly refuse to live in the real world because we wish it were different.

Pam
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You're comparing plate tectonics to YOUR suggestion to force spanish on unwilling children all because immigrants are too lazy to learn english?

Christ that's stupid.
 
No. If it is possible to teach Spanish to English speakers then it is equally possible to teach English to Spanish speakers. Why would it be a better idea to try to teach the majority (remember that most of the US popualtion is post HS age) the language of ANY minority? It is rediculous expense to produce all gov't documents and product labels in both English and Spanish now, even the gov't emergency alert messages on TV are now in both English and Spanish. This is clearly discrimination against immigrants from all non-English/Spanish speaking countries. I am very tired of pandering to only immigrants (many illegal) from Spanish speaking nations. It is time to stop the madness and enforce our immigration laws, not to toss them aside and open the gates to mainly those entering through Mexico.
 
gungadin said:
Why? Learning geometry isn't a choice. Besides, many other countries require students to study a specific foreign language, for their own good.

Pam
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If it's for our own good then we should be required to learn to read, write and speak Chinese and Hindi since 1/3 of the people on the planet speak one or the other!
 
gungadin said:
Why not just say, get rid of illegal aliens? I would support that. But out of curiosity, Spanish speakers make up damn near half of the population of New Mexico. When Spanish surpassses English as the majority language in that state, will you take a stand against requiring English, the language of the minority?

Pam
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That is my position. It is a requirement of citizenship that you learn English. So the only reason for learning Spanish is to speak to those who don't belong here. I'm not going to do that. If we send home the 20 million or so using up our resources, we solve a lot more than just a communication problem.
 
gungadin said:
Why? Learning geometry isn't a choice. Besides, many other countries require students to study a specific foreign language, for their own good.

Pam
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Because geometry is necessary to function Spanish is t and I live in Texas.
 
Samhain said:
Please check your statistics. They do not represent Spanish-only speakers.
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I didn't say they did. Let me repeat the question: When the time comes that the number of Spanish speakers in New Mexico surpasses the number of English speakers, will you take a stand against the teaching of English?

pam
 
gungadin said:
Because knowing Spanish, specifically, makes someone more competitive in the job market, at least in the border states.

Pam
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Maybe for managmenr of low level enployess but for the good white collar jobs all you need is English at least in Texas
 
gungadin said:
Fine. Go through the want ads and find me the number of jobs that require proficiency in geometry.

Pam
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Well seing as geometry is part of the GED I can find hundreds.
 
gungadin said:


Should Spanish be a required subject in school? If so, for which states and starting in what grades?

Pam
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No.We should not force people to learn the language of every group of immigrants or illegals who refuse to learn our language.We should not pander to these people. This "theyz ain'ts gonna to learns a english, so weez must make everyone else learn spanish" is ****en idiotic and nothing more than pandering to pieces of **** to lazy to learn English.Learning a second language for Americans should be a choice,learning English should be mandatory for all immigrants and illegals.


Immigrants and illegals don't have to speak like a grammar fags or nazis. They don't even have to get some college degree in English.But we do expect them to be proficient in English or learn to become proficient in English.
 
I'm 57 and Spanish was taught in highschool here in Canada when I was attending. However, I'm pretty sure you're suggesting Spanish as a mandatory subject.

If, or when (hopefully, I'll be long gone) Spanish becomes the language of commerce in the world, then you can talk about Spanish being a mandatory language taught in schools.

I'd suggest you'd get better value and a higher paying job if you learned Mandarin Chinese since if Obama continues to rack up debt at record rates the Chinese will own you.
 
Canada does not share a border with Mexico, and none of it's provinces have populations with nearly 1/3 or even 1/2 Spanish speakers.

Pam
 
gungadin said:
I didn't say they did. Let me repeat the question: When the time comes that the number of Spanish speakers in New Mexico surpasses the number of English speakers, will you take a stand against the teaching of English?

pam
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According to the US census, English is spoken by 267,444,149 out of 280,950,438 people, or 95.1%.

Furthermore, of the 34 million people who speak Spanish, 26 million of them can also speak English. That means that of the total US population of 280 million people, you are talking about only 8 million people who speak Spanish but not English.

When Spanish becomes spoken by 95% of the population, then it can be required.

And I will state it again, your statistics do not represent Spanish-only speakers. If 50% of the population of New Mexico are Spanish speakers, but 95% of those same people also speak English, then it is mathematically impossible for Spanish speakers to ever surpass English speakers.
 
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