<p>[Editorial</a> | Hablando a los padres - Opinion](<a href=“http://media.www.dailypennsylvanian.com/media/storage/paper882/news/2008/11/25/Opinion/Editorial.Hablando.A.Los.Padres-3561002.shtml]Editorial”>http://media.www.dailypennsylvanian.com/media/storage/paper882/news/2008/11/25/Opinion/Editorial.Hablando.A.Los.Padres-3561002.shtml) </p>
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<p>The link is bad, but the idea is good.</p>
<p>Now, somehow, the link that was bad a few minutes ago is good.</p>
<p>And the idea remains good. If Penn anticipates that many students from Spanish-speaking families will apply, it should certainly provide parent documents in Spanish.</p>
<p>…and Chinese and Korean and…surely lots of applicants come from families in which English is not the primary language of the parents.</p>
<p>If Penn wants to recruit or drive up the numbers of students from Spanish-speaking families, then it will do whatever it takes…including translating documents into Spanish.</p>
<p>Why stop with just Spanish?</p>
<p>In fact, having documents translated only into Spanish might be offensive to some other groups in the United States in which many of the parents do not have English as their primary language.</p>
<p>Our K-12 system here in Maryland has its quarterly parents newsletter and a variety of other materials for parents available in six languages – English, Chinese, French, Korean, Spanish, and Vietnamese. The main Parents Guide is available in those six languages and another three – Cambodian, Hindi, and Japanese.</p>
<p>If an ordinary (but noticeably multiethnic) school system can do this, I would think that it would not be difficult at all for a university with Penn’s resources.</p>
<p>The fact is, the more is provided in Spanish, the less insentive to learn English. Some do not realize that it makes adjustment period longer and overall restricts opportunites and increases level of frustration and sense of isolation. It is in the best interest of a person to learn English as fast as possible and start enjoying the full range of opportunities in this country.</p>
<p>The standard mix of languages to communicate with parents in the Twin Cities is Hmong, Somali, and Spanish. That covers most (although certainly not all) immigrant parents here. I’ve seen Russian too. </p>
<p>As far as I know, the younger immigrants (I would call them first-generation Americans if they intend to stay and grow up here) and the American-born children (whom I would call second-generation Americans, consistent with the terminology used over the decades in the Japanese-American community) </p>
<p>[Immigrant</a> generations - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigrant_generations]Immigrant”>Immigrant generations - Wikipedia) </p>
<p>all seem to be quite eager to learn English and quite successful at learning it, for work opportunity and to have an “interlanguage” to deal with people they meet outside the immigrant community.</p>
<p>There is a difference between Spanish and other languages. That difference is that the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is part of the US. People born there are US citizens. They speak Spanish. Their children apply to colleges elsewhere in the US as US citizens–not internationals. Thus, it makes sense to have materials intended for parents in Spanish. If the US wants to give up Puerto Rico, then Spanish would no longer be entitled to special status. Until that happens, it is.</p>
<p>I have mixed feelings about this. I am a native Spanish speaker and tend to agree with MiamiDAP in that there is a risk associated with making materials available in other languages, particularly to Spanish speakers. I believe a tough love approach that forces as many of us as possible to speak English is a better alternative.</p>
<p>On the other hand the reality is that many Hispanic students and their families can use whatever assistance they can get when navigating the college admissions process. As it stands, very few of them even reach this point.</p>
<p>If I was forced to take a side I would say the idea is good, with the caveat that translating the materials would be the first in a multi-step process that would provide additional support for these parents. I did not need help understanding the language in any of the forms that were used in the process but filling in the FAFSA application was not trivial.</p>
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<p>This oft-repeated “less incentive” idea has, pardon me for saying it – little founding in sociolinguistic theory. Language acquisition doesn’t work like that.</p>
<p>Witness: </p>
<p>How adult immigrants living for years in a monolingual environment of their host country never pick up native-like fluency of their adopted language</p>
<p>How second-generation immigrant children with plenty of “disincentives” to not learn the main language of the country their parents migrated have no trouble acquiring the main language.</p>
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<p>The editorial in the Daily Pennsylvanian only calls for making information aimed at parents available in Spanish, not information aimed at students. How well as student’s parents function in English should not be a factor in the student’s college admissions chances.</p>
<p>I know many families where the college-age children, most of whom were born in the United States or came here as very young children, are more comfortable speaking English, but the parents are more comfortable with the language of their native country. I see no harm in providing those parents with information in whatever way is most convenient for them.</p>
<p>Remember misinformed parents are an EXTREMELY annoying barrier (as much as they love their children) to college admission.</p>
<p>They think they can’t afford it without knowing how financial aid applications work, object because school X is not the “right path” for their child, etc. And it happens a lot in immigrant families – I knew a fellow senior in high school who had the capability to go on to college, but her parents thought that it was better to send her directly into the workforce – not even community college!</p>
<p>It’s not that there will be “less incentive” to learn English, oh come on. That’s like saying that having an English speaking advisor while an exchange student to a foreign country makes for “less incentive” for that student to be immersed in that culture. Especially since college is well, a life-changing decision. You know how you tend to skim over densely-worded language all the time in your native language – what about parents who misunderstand a situation because they didn’t really understand how the system worked?</p>
<p>While I think that anyone who comes to this country with the intent to spend the rest of their lives here or with the intent to raise kids here should make learning English a top priority, the fact is that many of them don’t. This is certainly true for many immigrants, legal or not, from Latin America. Often the kids become native English speakers and are fluent in Spanish as well yet the parents remain here for years speaking essentially no English. This means that the parents typically have little clue as to what’s happening in school with their kids, what options there are, etc. This can leads to lots of issues not just for the kid but also for the rest of us. Given a choice between them being somewhat informed or not, I think that if their population is significant (as in Spanish-only speakers in California), we’re all better off having them being better informed by being able to read in the only language they understand. I’ve seen the parent/teacher and other meetings where the kid does the translation for the parent and the parent often looks bewildered as it is.</p>
<p>What a very bad idea!</p>
<p>Sending their kids to college is not the place to offer “tough love”.</p>
<p>If the university wants to recruit more mexican and puerto rican students then they should offer information in spanish so parents can play a role.</p>
<p>Why is anyone here interested in punishing fluent English speakers because their parents don’t speak English? </p>
<p>My Spanish is pretty good, but if I had to deal with important, unfamiliar, technical documents, I’d want them in English, my native language. I imagine that native Spanish speakers feel the same way. A lot of Spanish-speaking immigrants didn’t go to college themselves, so they are unfamiliar with college application customs in the United States. Good for Penn for offering the parent information in Spanish, so immigrants with limited English can get involved in their children’s college applications.</p>
<p>Tyler09 says “If the university wants to recruit more Mexican and Puerto Rican students …” I’m guessing this program is aimed more at American students (including Puerto Ricans), not foreign students.</p>
<p>thats what I mean, mexican-americans and puerto rican students, I can see how it wasn’t clear.</p>