Hunt

There are lots of people coming to this country who don't speak English, and who currently need to communicate in Spanish. Some of them will never learn to speak English really well. However, their children all learn to speak English well:

Pew Hispanic Center Report: English Usage Among Hispanics in the United States

This is no different from previous waves of immigrants. Well-educated immigrants learn English themselves, while the children of less-educated immigrants learn English.

Georgiatwins

All Americans should, IMO, learn at least one other foreign language. In a global economy, a individual's career opportunities increase with a working knowledge of another language. I studied Latin for five years and found it to be an invaluable tool throughout college and in every day vocabulary. Both children have taken 3-4 years of Spanish and two of Latin-I envy their ability to communicate with people of Hispanic heritage.

That said, until our educational system can produce students who think, write and speak effectively in English, we have MAJOR work to do. My husband is a partner in a large law firm and says it is amazing to him to read briefs, legal letters, etc. drafted by 1st and 2nd year associates ( recently graduated from law school) whose writing lacks basic subject/verb agreement.

I have saved three notes written by teachers ( regarding our children) where the grammar was absolutely atrocious. IMO, we still have a lot of "crawling to do", so to speak, before we are able to effectively communicate in English. If there are simultaneous methodologies to improve English grammar and writing in tandem with many of the modern and classical ( Spanish) languages, then we need to implement this approach ASAP.

galoisien

What the facts about linguistic acquisition say and what they do not.

azure_blue

Dear Bedhead,

What "things" have I said we both know not to be true?

The Mckinsey study did say we pay more, but not that we get poorer quality.
The answer is not more bureaucracy, really.

I'm still waiting on that economic recesion answer....