Spanish at school translates to suspension

[Oh, Gee!!]

Spanish at school translates to suspension

Link:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10372148/

KANSAS CITY, Kan. - Most of the time, 16-year-old Zach Rubio converses in clear, unaccented American teen-speak, a form of English in which the three most common words are "like," "whatever" and "totally." But Zach is also fluent in his dad's native language, Spanish -- and that's what got him suspended from school.

"It was, like, totally not in the classroom," the high school junior said, recalling the infraction. "We were in the, like, hall or whatever, on restroom break. This kid I know, he's like, 'Me prestas un dolar?' ['Will you lend me a dollar?'] Well, he asked in Spanish; it just seemed natural to answer that way. So I'm like, 'No problema.' "

But that conversation turned out to be a big problem for the staff at the Endeavor Alternative School, a small public high school in an ethnically mixed blue-collar neighborhood. A teacher who overheard the two boys sent Zach to the office, where Principal Jennifer Watts ordered him to call his father and leave the school.

Watts, whom students describe as a disciplinarian, said she can't discuss the case. But in a written "discipline referral" explaining her decision to suspend Zach for 1 1/2 days, she noted: "This is not the first time we have [asked] Zach and others to not speak Spanish at school."

Since then, the suspension of Zach Rubio has become the talk of the town in both English and Spanish newspapers and radio shows. The school district has officially rescinded his punishment and said that speaking a foreign language is not grounds for suspension. Meanwhile, the Rubio family has retained a lawyer, who says a civil rights lawsuit may be in the offing.

National debate
The tension here surrounding that brief exchange in a high school hall reflects a broader national debate over the language Americans should speak amid a wave of Hispanic immigration.

The National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic advocacy group, says that 20 percent of the U.S. school-age population is Latino. For half of those Latino students, the native language is Spanish.

Conflicts are bursting out nationwide over bilingual education, "English-only" laws, Spanish-language publications and advertising, and other linguistic collisions. Language concerns have been a key aspect of the growing political movement to reduce immigration.

"There's a lot of backlash against the increasing Hispanic population," said D.C. school board member Victor A. Reinoso. "We've seen some of it in the D.C. schools. You see it in some cities, where people complain that their tax money shouldn't be used to print public notices in Spanish. And there have been cases where schools want to ban foreign languages."

Some advocates of an English-only policy in U.S. schools say that it is particularly important for students from immigrant families to use the nation's dominant language.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) made that point this summer when he vetoed a bill authorizing various academic subjects to be tested in Spanish in the state's public schools. "As an immigrant," the Austrian-born governor said, "I know the importance of mastering English as quickly and as comprehensively as possible."

Hispanic groups generally agree with that, but they emphasize the value of a multilingual citizenry. "A fully bilingual young man like Zach Rubio should be considered an asset to the community," said Janet Murguia, national president of La Raza.

(cont'd)

[Oh, Gee!!]

The influx of immigrants has reached every corner of the country -- even here in Kansas City, which is about as far as a U.S. town can be from a border. Along Southwest Boulevard, a main street through some of the older neighborhoods, there are blocks where almost every shop and restaurant has signs written in Spanish.

"Most people, they don't care where you're from," said Zach's father, Lorenzo Rubio, a native of Veracruz, Mexico, who has lived in Kansas City for a quarter-century. "But sometimes, when they hear my accent, I get this, sort of, 'Why don't you go back home?' "

Rubio, a U.S. citizen, credits U.S. immigration law for his decision to fight his son's suspension.

"You can't just walk in and become a citizen," he said. "They make you take this government test. I studied for that test, and I learned that in America, they can't punish you unless you violate a written policy."

Rubio said he remembered that lesson on Nov. 28, when he received a call from Endeavor Alternative saying his son had been suspended.

"So I went to the principal and said, 'My son, he's not suspended for fighting, right? He's not suspended for disrespecting anyone. He's suspended for speaking Spanish in the hall?' So I asked her to show me the written policy about that. But they didn't have" one.

Rubio then called the superintendent of the Turner Unified School District, which operates the school. The district immediately rescinded Zach's suspension, local media reported. The superintendent did not respond to several requests to comment for this article.

Since then, the issue of speaking Spanish in the hall has not been raised at the school, Zach said. "I know it would be, like, disruptive if I answered in Spanish in the classroom. I totally don't do that. But outside of class now, the teachers are like, 'Whatever.' "

For Zach's father, and for the Hispanic organizations that have expressed concern, the suspension is not a closed case. "Obviously they've violated his civil rights," said Chuck Chionuma, a lawyer in Kansas City, Mo., who is representing the Rubio family. "We're studying what form of legal redress will correct the situation."

Said Rubio: "I'm mainly doing this for other Mexican families, where the legal status is kind of shaky and they are afraid to speak up. Punished for speaking Spanish? Somebody has to stand up and say: This is wrong."

© 2005 The Washington Post Company

[SWC Bonfire]

Reminds me of the story that my Grandpa told me... English was not his first language. When he would slip up and forget to say something in English, the teacher would pull or twist his ears. Hard. He is about to turn 92, and to this day, he still has not forgiven that teacher for the way she acted.

That was the punishment after WWI for a kid speaking German in class.

[Oh, Gee!!]

tell your grandpa to start posting here

[101A]

I do not put it beyond any public school to screw up anything.

Really bad.

[SWC Bonfire]

tell your grandpa to start posting here

He'll start going on and on about FDR and the New Deal...:lol

[Mr. Peabody]

These immigrants need to realize that they're in American and in America we speak English, not Mexican.

[SWC Bonfire]

These immigrants need to realize that they're in American and in America we speak English, not Mexican.

I have full faith that in several generations that they will speak English and be equally despised by their original country of ethnic origin.

[Mr. Peabody]

I have full faith that in several generations that they will speak English and be equally despised by their original country of ethnic origin.

:lol

[scott]

I found this story interesting since (at least in Texas), taking a second language is required in many schools.

[ElMuerto]

Que!? No me digas!!

[SpursWoman]

That's retarded.

[Hook Dem]

no me chinges!!!!! :lol

[Duff McCartney]

You're in America son....speak American!!

[Extra Stout]

Dear cracker-ass-crackers: you do not have the right to force other people to speak your language in their casual conversations. You shouldn't be eavesdropping in the first place. Fuck you.

I'm sensitive about this shit. If people want to speak Spanish to one another, that's their business. I enjoy pissing off inbred assholes named Bubba by speaking Spanish around them. When they see a white dude doing it it really pisses them off, like I'm a race traitor or something. I'm sick of these cousin-fucking rednecks telling me my upbringing isn't as American as theirs because I grew up in a city that wasn't lilly-ass white.

When I see billboards in Spanish, I'm all "HA HA HA you fucking crackers I can read that and you can't HA HA HA suck it and go back to your trailer."

I hope that principal gets convicted of violating civil rights laws and gets to spend a little time in federal prison.

[hussker]

Email the Principal!...(En espanol!)

[email protected]

[hussker]

I am going to email in ebonics, spanish, and japanese, and redneck

[xrayzebra]

Dear cracker-ass-crackers: you do not have the right to force other people to speak your language in their casual conversations. You shouldn't be eavesdropping in the first place. Fuck you.

I'm sensitive about this shit. If people want to speak Spanish to one another, that's their business. I enjoy pissing off inbred assholes named Bubba by speaking Spanish around them. When they see a white dude doing it it really pisses them off, like I'm a race traitor or something. I'm sick of these cousin-fucking rednecks telling me my upbringing isn't as American as theirs because I grew up in a city that wasn't lilly-ass white.

When I see billboards in Spanish, I'm all "HA HA HA you fucking crackers I can read that and you can't HA HA HA suck it and go back to your trailer."

I hope that principal gets convicted of violating civil rights laws and gets to spend a little time in federal prison.

I'm really impressed. He reads billboards that I cant. I am so envious. I wonder
if he can talk in mixed company. He has such a great vocabulary. I'll just
bet you know all the cuss words in Spanish too or do you just speak
Mex-Tex genius.

[SA210]

This is ridicuolous. There is more racism in this country than ppl are willing to admit.

[hussker]

Nothing addresses this in the Board of Education directives for the bass-ackwards there.

[Extra Stout]

I'm really impressed. He reads billboards that I cant. I am so envious. I wonder
if he can talk in mixed company. He has such a great vocabulary. I'll just
bet you know all the cuss words in Spanish too or do you just speak
Mex-Tex genius..
I know enough to carry on a conversation but not enough to understand legal documents.

And I know the billboards piss off the rednecks because they complain about them all the time.

I also know they bitch because they can't get certain jobs where being bilingual is a requirement. HA HA HA HA HA If they weren't so lazy, they'd learn it. It's not like it's a hard language. Oh, but in America we're s'posed to speak 'Murcan! Yeah, well reality is what it is, and if you choose not to adapt even though you have the opportunity, too bad.

But the same goes for Hispanics in S.A. who never learn anything other than Tex-Mex. That's a language that can't be understood either in Dallas or in Monterrey.

[Ms. Kaleidescope]

I'd like to know where that school's faculty is from.. cuz I bet they haven't always been American! And if they were, I betcha they didn't originally speak English! America embraces all cultures, and bilingualism is a quality, not a bad thing. They shouldn't be so narrow-minded...

[Guru of Nothing]

When I see billboards in Spanish, I'm all "HA HA HA you fucking crackers I can read that and you can't HA HA HA suck it and go back to your trailer."

[/Jack Handy]

[DarkReign]

Its America...youre being educated on the American dollar....speak the language.

It isnt "his own time", he is at school. Being at school is just like work. Its not your time, its the company's/school's time.

Deal with it.

Want to speak spanish? Goto spanish class or a Spanish-speaking school.

Now, I fully admit this conversation that went on was a horrible example. Some kid asking for a dollar is no biggie. But its a precedent.

Next youll have spanish speaking kids cussing out teachers in a language they cant understand. Kids giggling because they grew up on Dora and half-ass understand whats being said.

Its bullshit. Speak the language. Period.

[Mr. Peabody]

It isnt "his own time", he is at school. Being at school is just like work. Its not your time, its the company's/school's time.

Deal with it.

Want to speak spanish? Goto spanish class or a Spanish-speaking school.



I don't really agree with your logic. If you were at any job in the country and you were fired, not for the act of conversing with a coworker, but for conversing with a coworker in Spanish, that employer would hear from the EEOC.

You can't discriminate against someone on the basis of their ethnicity in work or at school.

Unless kids are being suspended from school for asking for dollars in English, how can you punish this kid for doing it in Spanish?

[Extra Stout]

Its America...youre being educated on the American dollar....speak the language.

It isnt "his own time", he is at school. Being at school is just like work. Its not your time, its the company's/school's time.

Deal with it.

Want to speak spanish? Goto spanish class or a Spanish-speaking school.

Now, I fully admit this conversation that went on was a horrible example. Some kid asking for a dollar is no biggie. But its a precedent.

Next youll have spanish speaking kids cussing out teachers in a language they cant understand. Kids giggling because they grew up on Dora and half-ass understand whats being said.

Its bullshit. Speak the language. Period.
It is expected that students will speak in class in the language in which class is being conducted. To fail to do is disruptive and grounds for disciplinary action.

Speaking informally and privately to classmates in the halls has nothing to do with the maintenance of order or of the classroom environment.

If they want to speak Klingon with one another (and I'm sure there are some geeks that do), it's their business.

Similarly, my company isn't going to care if I speak a foreign language in an informal setting at work. But if I insist upon speaking something other than English in a meeting, I'll be called into my boss's office for a little chat about what the hell my problem is.