In the mind of Amy Lacey, Principal of Hempstead Middle School, speaking in a language other than English — at anyplace and at anytime on campus — is akin to chewing gum or throwing spit balls. Banned! Outlawed! Forbidden! Verboten! Oops. Got carried away with that last one. One of the few German words that I know. Probably not welcome at the middle school in Hempstead, Texas, a rural area just north of Houston.
Well, maybe German would be okay. Spanish, according to Ms. Lacey, is right out:
Hempstead Middle School Principal Amy Lacey was placed on paid administrative leave in December after reportedly announcing, via intercom, that students were not to speak Spanish on the school’s campus.
What’s next, no pig Latin or Yiddish? Oy vey! This action, described by some as racially motivated and by others, including yours truly, as just plain stupid, has gotten Principal Lacey fired. One does not need to view this as a racial incident — which it may or may not have been — to determine that the sheer stupidity of a Principal of a middle school with an ethnically diverse student-body (including a sizable number of Hispanic students) ordering/suggesting/asking that students not speak ANY Spanish, should, in and of itself, have been reason enough for the Hempstead School Board to decide not to renew Ms. Lacey’s contract. Which is exactly what they did.
Now, before some of my conservative readers get apoplectic, I believe that students in public schools in the United States should speak and learn in English (unless they are students in a foreign language class). Of course, there are some students new to America who will need to be integrated into an English-only system slowly. These students, whether their first language is Chinese, German, French, Russian or Spanish, should be afforded the opportunity to learn English as a Second language so that they can assimilate into the American culture. And, as much as I would like to learn Spanish as a second language to help me in my ministry in southern New Mexico and on my summer vacation at the beach in Mexico, I do believe that it is essential that all citizens of our nation learn and use a common language, that being English.
That being said, I can think of no good reason to mandate an “English-only” policy campus-wide at any school. Not only is such a rule impractical and unenforceable, but it borders on a violation of the First Amendment. Unless one believes that the First Amendment is only applicable in English, then how can a group of students at lunch or in the hallway or in the parking lot after school be prohibited from speaking in a language other than English? Are there exceptions for Anglo students who want to learn Spanish so that their Hispanic friends can teach them a few phrases during lunch? Must t-shirts (provided that they are allowed to be worn on campus) only be written in English?
The absurdity of such a rule is obvious. Assuming for the sake of argument that Principal Lacey was not motivated by racial animus in her decision to ban Spanish on the campus of Hempstead Middle School, I believe that the School Board had no other choice but to terminate Ms. Lacey’s contract when it expires at the end of the school year. What message does that send to the parents and students of the school district? That racial politics is alive and well in rural Texas? Perhaps. But, if nothing else, it sends a clear message to the citizens of Hempstead School District that stupidity will not be rewarded with taxpayer funding. And, that’s something that everyone can support, no matter what language they speak!
So much for Hispanic immigrants being required to learn English. This country is on a fast track to third world status on a par with Juarez Mexico.
I’m not sure that this incident says anything about any immigrants — Hispanic or otherwise — not being required to learn English. As I stated in my OP, students should be taught English and should learn to speak, read, and write in English. However, I do not believe that prohibiting students from speaking a language other than English at anyplace and anytime on campus is wise or warranted. Is is stupid to require students (and all citizens, for that matter) to learn English? Absolutely not. Is it stupid to forbid Spanish (or any other language) from being spoken on a school campus? I think so, but others may disagree. Thanks for taking the time to read and comment. God bless,
Howell
My nephew is enrolled in a kindergarten program that teaches completely in Spanish on one day and in English the next. He did not have any “opportunity” to ease into Spanish. It seems to be going OK for him.
The major inhibition in learning a new language (English for example) seems to be having people to talk to in the language you actually “know.” This would be motivation for prohibiting the use of Spanish on campus. But in general, prohibiting the use of a language on a campus has never worked from a PR point of view and is a bad idea. But if you want people to learn English (or Spanish) it works well to just make it the only choice.
My first wife taught an ESL class with 7 students who were from 7 countries and spoke 6 different languages. If they wanted to talk to each other, they did it in English. She said that in many ways it was easier than when most of the class spoke Spanish. She was doing testing for the school district one year. A girl had moved from little English to being ready to leave the program in a year. My wife asked how she had done this (as it was unusual) and she replied, “Father decided we would only speak English at home.” But Fathers can get away with this.
Bennett,
Hope you are doing well. Good to hear from you. Of course, you are right when you say that “fathers can get away with this.” Principals not so much. I certainly understand the reasoning behind wanting students to speak in a particular language so that they can learn it faster. There are reasons for limiting Spanish, but a campus-wide prohibition, as you point out, is not only wrong from a PR viewpoint, but just a bad idea. As always, thanks for stopping by and God bless,
Howell
My nephew is in a kindergarden program that teaches in Spanish on one day and in English the next. He entered this without any instruction in Spanish but seems to be doing OK.
A major impediment to learning a language is having people to talk with in the “other” language. This might be motive to shut off the other language–but that never works well from a PR point of view.
My first wife taught an ESL class with 7 students from 7 countries and speaking 6 languages. If they wanted to talk with each other, they had to do it in English. One year she did testing for the school district. One girl had moved from almost no English to ready to leave the program in a year. My wife asked her how she had done this (it was unusual). Her reply, “My father decided we would only speak English at home.” Fathers can get away with this.
My copy of the comment did not appear until I put up a repeat of it. Hopefully I made the same points in both. Sorry about that.
My grandson was in China for his early years. For reasons known only to him, he simply refused to speak Mandarin. I think it was because his parents did not stick with the plan that they had to speak only Mandarin at home. He was a late talker and this caused them concern and they waffled.
Not a problem. Glad to know I’m not the only person that double posts sometimes 🙂