<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" ><tr><td valign="top" style="font: inherit;">Dr. Gupta makes an excellent point. Language change is inevitable, and only ultra-conservative purists lament the fact that we aren't all still using Shakespeare's language. And that, in a way, is the problem with the "deterministic idea" Dr. Gupta refers to. There are both humanistic and scientific reasons for wanting to preserve languages, but the two can seem contradictory.<br> The humanistic reasons include the preservation of cultures which provide a moral and spiritual center to members of a community, while the scientific reasons involve preserving the language solely for the sake of hard data to supplement our knowledge of how language works. The contradiction arises in that the one is a more compassionate stance, while the other is coldly intellectual.<br> Perhaps a better approach to studying endangered languages and the
cultures that go with them is to seek a mature, wise manner of integrating changes in language and culture. Perhaps the measure of wisdom would be how well such an approach allows cultural centering while also providing opportunity for a better quality of life.<br><br>Jeremy Graves<br>Adjunct instructor of English<br>Florida Community College at Jacksonville<br><br>--- On <b>Wed, 3/4/09, Multiple recipients of list <i><lgpolicy-list@ccat.sas.upenn.edu></i></b> wrote:<br><blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px;">From: Multiple recipients of list <lgpolicy-list@ccat.sas.upenn.edu><br>Subject: LGPOLICY-LIST digest 1151<br>To: "Multiple recipients of list" <lgpolicy-list@ccat.sas.upenn.edu><br>Date: Wednesday, March 4, 2009, 6:04 PM<br><br><pre> LGPOLICY-LIST Digest 1151<br><br>Topics covered in this issue include:<br><br> 1) RE: Endangered languages, endangered thought<br> by
Anthea Fraser Gupta <A.F.Gupta@leeds.ac.uk><br> 2) TOC: International Journal of Speech Language and the Law Vol 15, No <br> 2 (2008)<br> by Harold Schiffman <hfsclpp@gmail.com><br> 3) Houston: Latinos have opportunity to transform U.S. society<br> by Harold Schiffman <hfsclpp@gmail.com><br> 4) Malaysia: Scaling the language barrier<br> by Harold Schiffman <hfsclpp@gmail.com><br> 5) France: La musique ist der language internazionale<br> by Harold Schiffman <hfsclpp@gmail.com><br> 6) Colorado: Unhappy parents boycott CSAPs in Commerce City<br> by Harold Schiffman <hfsclpp@gmail.com><br> 7) New York: Columbia Journalism Review Launches Chinese-Language <br> Edition in China<br> by Harold Schiffman <hfsclpp@gmail.com><br></pre><pre>I continue to worry that this deterministic idea has become a matter of<br>faith....<br><br>Languages are not things out there but are human constructs. Speakers<br>make them,
speakers change them, speakers change, languages change.<br><br>Obviously it's appropriate to encourage communities who feel that<br>aspects of their cultural life is being destroyed by outside forces. But<br>on the other hand, the idea that language change, language shift and<br>language contact are not natural processes of change that have always<br>happened and always will happen is inimical to some of the most deeply<br>held tenets of linguistics. <br><br>Languages shouldn't be put in reservations any more than people should.<br>Even if you speak the same 'language' as your all your<br>great-great-grandparents did (which I happen to) you do not know the<br>same bits of it as they do, because you are engaged in different<br>activities and because the world has changed. New diversities arise as<br>old ones go. New 'languages' develop from processes of separation and<br>contact.<br><br>When each person dies we lose "ways of seeing and describing
reality; we<br>lose valuable knowledge and worlds of thought." Each individual is a<br>unique repository of knowledge, thought, and personality. <br><br>Anthea<br><br><br>* * * * *<br>Anthea Fraser Gupta (Dr)<br>School of English, University of Leeds, LS2 9JT<br><www.leeds.ac.uk/english/staff/afg><br>NB: Reply to a.f.gupta@leeds.ac.uk<br>* * * * *<br> <br><br>> -----Original Message-----<br>> From: owner-lgpolicy-list@ccat.sas.upenn.edu <br>> [mailto:owner-lgpolicy-list@ccat.sas.upenn.edu] On Behalf Of <br>> Harold Schiffman<br>> Sent: 03 March 2009 20:33<br>> To: lp<br>> Subject: Endangered languages, endangered thought<br>> <br>> <br>> Forwarded From: Edling@lists.sis.utsa.edu<br>> <br>> The UNESCO Courier<br>> <br>> <br>> <br>> Endangered languages, endangered thought<br>> <br>> <br>> <br>> Some 200 languages have become extinct in the last three
<br>> generations, according to the new "UNESCO Atlas of the <br>> World's Languages in Danger". When languages die out, not <br>> only words disappear, but ways of seeing and describing <br>> reality; we lose valuable knowledge and worlds of thought.<br>> <br>> <br>> <br>> http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=44549&URL_DO=DO_TOPI<br>> C&URL_SECTION=201.html<br>> <br>> <br>> <br>> <br>> --<br>> =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br>> <br>> Harold F. Schiffman<br>> <br>> Professor Emeritus of<br>> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture<br>> Dept. of South Asia Studies<br>> University of Pennsylvania<br>> Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br>> <br>> Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>> Fax: (215) 573-2138<br>> <br>> Email: haroldfs@gmail.com<br>> http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/<br>> <br>> -------------------------------------------------<br>> <br>>
<br></pre><pre>International Journal of Speech Language and the Law Vol 15, No 2 (2008)<br><br><br>Publisher: Equinox Publishing Ltd<br>http://www.equinoxpub.com/<br><br>Journal Title: The International Journal of Speech, Language and the Law<br>Volume Number: 15<br>Issue Number: 2<br>Issue Date: 2008<br><br><br><br>Articles:<br><br>Voice Disguise Using a Foreign Accent: Phonetic and Linguistic Variation<br>Sara Neuhauser<br><br>Acoustic and Perceptual Effects of Telephone Transmission on Vowel Quality<br>Sophie Lawrence, Francis Nolan, Kirsty McDougall<br><br>Impact of the Mobile Phone Network on the Speech Signal – Some Preliminary<br>Findings<br>Bernard John Guillemin, Catherine Watson<br><br>Authorship Attribution under the Rules of Evidence: Empirical Approaches in a<br>Layperson's Legal System<br>Blake Stephen Howald<br><br>Forensic Speaker Recognition Using Likelihood Ratios Based on Polynomial Curves<br>Fitted to the Formant Trajectories of
Australian English /aI/<br>Geoffrey Stewart Morrison<br><br><br><br>Thesis Abstracts:<br>Forensic Linguistics, First Contact Police Interviews, and Basic<br>Officer Training<br>Kerry Linfoot<br><br>UK Police Interviews: A Linguistic Analysis of Afro-Caribbean and White British<br>Suspect Interviews<br>Claire Jones<br><br><br><br>Book Reviews:<br><br>An Introduction to Forensic Linguistics: Language in Evidence by Malcolm<br>Coulthard and Alison Johnson (2007). Routledge. 237pp. ISBN 0-415-32023-2<br>Susan Berk-Seligson<br><br>Communicating Rights: The Language of Arrest and Detention by Frances Rock<br>(2007). Palgrave Macmillan. 359pp. ISBN 978-0-230-01331-5<br>Ikuko Nakane<br><br>The Language of Sexual Crime edited by Janet Cotterill (2007). Palgrave<br>Macmillan. 264pp. ISBN 0-230-00170-X<br>Shonna L. Trinch<br><br>http://linguistlist.org/issues/20/20-661.html<br><br>-- <br>**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list
is merely intended as a service to<br>its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner<br>or sponsor of<br>the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who<br>disagree with a<br>message are encouraged to post a rebuttal. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br>*******************************************<br></pre><pre>Latinos have opportunity to transform U.S. society<br><br>By NICOLAS KANELLOS<br>Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle<br>March 3, 2009, 8:22PM<br><br>San Antonio mayor and HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros recently surprised<br>the Washington audience at the launch for a new book he edited,<br>Latinos and the Nation’s Future, by declaring that the country’s first<br>Hispanic president “has already been born.” Of course, surprise is<br>unjustified. The inauguration of the first black President was a<br>tangible reminder for the entire country, and the rest of the world,<br>of what demographers have
long known: The face of America is changing.<br>And the majority of that change comes from Latinos.<br><br>Just look at U.S. Census projections based on Latinos already in this<br>country and it becomes clear that it’s time to accept the premise of<br>inevitable and monumental Latino population growth. What exactly this<br>means for the future of the country is still uncertain. But here’s one<br>guarantee: The United States’ ballooning Latino growth will have<br>significant implications for practically all segments of social and<br>economic life in the United States.<br><br>Mainstream dialogue about Latino population growth has been dominated<br>for years by debates over immigration, much of it very nasty, and<br>completely focused on negative potential. But consider this — given<br>the falling birth rate and rising population of retired workers in the<br>United States, continued immigration is actually what fuels the<br>country’s economic
engine and allows it to grow and expand. And let’s<br>not forget that it’s young Latinos entering the workforce as the<br>economy heals who will pay the Social Security benefits of our aging<br>population as they head into retirement.<br><br>It’s time to engage in a productive national dialogue about what this<br>Latino growth means for the country, and how it will inevitably shape<br>the American Dream of the future.<br><br>Here are my predictions:<br><br>While English will remain the “official” language of the United<br>States, Spanish will become the “unofficial” second national language.<br>After all, at universities, Spanish departments are already separating<br>themselves from foreign language divisions in recognition that Spanish<br>has always been an important language in this country, and has an<br>expanded role in the future.<br><br>As for the media — and this holds true for other corporate sectors as<br>well — economic
growth will require accessing Hispanic markets. Just<br>look at Univision if you need proof of the economic potential of<br>marketing to the Latino population: The current programming<br>originating in Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela, and the Spanish-speaking<br>United States, and distributed from Los Angeles and Miami, is<br>unrivaled by any of the English-language networks. If you are not a<br>native Spanish speaker you may never have heard of Univision’s show<br>Sábado Gigante, but it actually dwarfs shows like David Letterman in<br>audience size.<br><br>Latinos will also forge new paths in the work force. As long as U.S.<br>Hispanics remain disproportionately working class, they will ascend to<br>the leadership of movements for worker’s rights and unions, as well as<br>reform of immigration policy. Despite the high number of uneducated<br>Hispanic immigrants and natives, their children already make up the<br>fastest growing segment of college
enrollments, in spite of unusually<br>high dropout rates. Their children are already on the first rungs of<br>the ladder to leadership in industry, entertainment, communications<br>and education. Soon, they will also become part of a rupture of the<br>glass ceilings in these fields.<br><br>The growing economic integration of the Americas will lead to cultural<br>integration as well: The history, culture and civilization of<br>Hispanics will increasingly be seen as part of the national American<br>culture, one shared by all. Of course, the rise of Hispanics into the<br>middle class will not be accomplished through the traditional path of<br>leaving the “old country” culture behind in order to become<br>“Americans,” purified through a melting-pot process. In fact, the<br>opposite will be true; a bilingual-bicultural citizenry capable of<br>navigating cultural differences at many levels will emerge. Dual<br>citizenship will be more common and
university systems will expand<br>across borders to prepare graduates capable of operating in this new<br>culture.<br><br>Over time, American racism will no longer limit the access of<br>Hispanics to American opportunities, for their sheer numbers will<br>transform politics and policy, once the population reaches voting age.<br>But more important than demographics and voting power, Hispanic<br>culture has always fostered a dynamic of racial and cultural blending.<br>The Latino influence will further accelerate interracial and<br>interethnic marriage, and along with it the tendency to identify with<br>the rest of the countries and cultures of the Americas rather than<br>solely with Europe<br><br>Latinos have the potential to create a new society in the Western<br>Hemisphere that goes beyond national boundaries or cultures. This<br>society will be the inspiration for a New American Dream.<br><br>Kanellos is the director of Arte Público Press of the
University of<br>Houston, and contributor to the new book Latinos and the Nation’s<br>Future.<br><br>http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/6292392.html<br>**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to<br>its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner<br>or sponsor of<br>the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who<br>disagree with a<br>message are encouraged to post a rebuttal. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br>*******************************************<br></pre><pre>Web version available at:<br>http://www.thenutgraph.com/scaling-the-language-barrier<br><br>Scaling the language barrier<br>4 Mar 09 : 11.00AM<br>By Wong Chin Huat<br>editor@thenutgraph.com<br><br>THE English language is now promoting interethnic unity in Malaysia,<br>albeit unintentionally. Malay, Chinese and Tamil educationists who<br>were once natural
enemies have now joined forces to oppose the English<br>for Teaching Mathematics and Science (ETeMS) policy.<br><br>Politically, leaders in the Barisan Nasional (BN) are divided on<br>whether to continue the policy, while the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) is<br>solidly behind the call to scrap it. However, it can't be ruled out<br>that a new consensus may emerge after the Umno party elections.<br><br><br>The standard of English has deteriorated in Malaysia, over the past<br>decade, while the English language is enjoying increasing importance<br>in a globalising world. Taking both these factors into consideration,<br>isn't the call to abolish ETeMS and reinstate the old status quo<br>irrational and irresponsible? I don't think so.<br><br>A flawed policy<br><br>While the policy's opponents have not been able to offer superior<br>alternatives to convince a divided public, ETeMS is essentially flawed<br>and must go.<br><br>The main argument justifying ETeMS is that
since the bulk of knowledge<br>in science and mathematics is produced in English, learning these<br>subjects in English would allow students to acquire knowledge directly<br>without depending on translations.<br><br>Why is this argument flawed? Well, not every student intends to become<br>a mathematician or scientist, so not everyone needs to comprehend<br>mathematics and science publications in English.<br><br>The policy would be fine if it did not entail any costs, e.g. if<br>switching the teaching of these subjects to English did not affect the<br>ability of weaker or non-English-speaking students in mastering these<br>subjects.<br><br>This, however, is clearly not true. It is self-evident that one's<br>ability to learn depends on one's ability to understand what is being<br>taught. This is the argument for mother-tongue education, in a<br>nutshell.<br><br>But teaching science and mathematics in English to all students of<br>varying abilities has
inevitably entailed a sacrifice of the general<br>standard of these two subjects. Does this benefit the country in the<br>long run? Criticisms that the standard of these two subjects has been<br>artificially lowered speak volumes of the magnitude of this problem.<br>So, why don't we have different policies catered for students of<br>different aptitudes and endowments?<br><br>There is another argument, even more flawed, that justifies ETeMS: the<br>more students are exposed to the English language, the more their<br>mastery of the language will improve.<br><br><br>Let's take this argument to its logical conclusion. Let's look at arts<br>and commerce students — these kids do not need to study science and<br>mathematics beyond a certain level. Science-stream students, however,<br>are normally required to take some humanities subjects even at<br>university level.<br><br>So, if students need to be "exposed" more to the English language,<br>ETeMS should
really be redirected to focus on history, geography and<br>religious or moral education subjects. Why force the right medicine<br>down the throat of the wrong patient?<br><br>A dishonest policy<br><br>An honest analysis will show that the policy prescription should never<br>have been about teaching mathematics and science in English for all<br>education streams. The arguments supporting ETeMS have not developed<br>into logical, systematic implementation. In fact, the two arguments<br>used to justify ETeMS are mutually contradictory.<br><br>For example, following the argument that science and mathematics<br>literature is mostly in English, science-stream education should have<br>logically been fully converted to English with the status quo retained<br>for all other streams.<br><br>But following the argument that students should be more "exposed" to<br>ideas in English, it is the medium of instruction of the humanities<br>subjects that should have been
switched to English.<br><br>These policy options are actually quite logical. But they have been<br>taken out of the public debate because they are not politically<br>viable. This in turn suggests the two arguments are actually spurious.<br><br>For example, if we had converted science-stream education to English<br>in toto, we would eventually be creating a linguistically defined<br>class division in society.<br><br>Not unlike colonial times, command of English would determine one's<br>opportunity to be a doctor, an engineer, an architect, a computer<br>programmer, or an IT tycoon. Eventually, it would determine one's<br>acceptance into the economic and sociopolitical elite. Clearly, this<br>position is political suicide for politicians, especially the Malay<br>nationalists from Umno.<br><br>On the other hand, if we had instead switched the language of<br>instruction of the humanities subjects to English, we would have had<br>to face two difficult
scenarios. Firstly, would improvement of<br>students' command of English have been achieved at the expense of a<br>general deterioration of academic standards in the humanities? If yes,<br>would the policy have been worth it?<br><br>Secondly, and more importantly, no matter how important English has<br>become globally, would we need the entire nation to be conversant in<br>English, even at the price of academic regression?<br><br><br>Why this dishonesty?<br><br>The policy question before us is actually very simple. There are three<br>factors to take into account.<br><br>Firstly, we need to improve the general standard of English for all<br>students, and produce some students with an excellent command of<br>English.<br><br>Secondly, any policy should not cause academic standards to decline,<br>especially among students who are socioeconomically disadvantaged; for<br>instance, those from poorer backgrounds and rural schools.<br><br>Thirdly, any policy
should not marginalise the national language and<br>other mother-tongue languages such that Malaysia loses its national<br>character and multilingual advantage.<br><br>What's the solution? Revive English-medium schools, alongside the<br>existing Malay, Chinese and Tamil-language streams. Parents who want<br>their children to learn all non-language subjects in English can then<br>have a choice, instead of turning to the mushrooming private and<br>international schools.<br><br>Why then has this simple and straightforward solution not been pursued?<br><br>First, it would mean that the decision to convert English-medium<br>schools into Malay-medium schools beginning in 1975 was wrong.<br>Incidentally, it was Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad who was education<br>minister when this language-switch policy sentenced English-medium<br>education to death. Nearly three decades later, it was Mahathir again<br>who wanted to switch back to English-language education for
science<br>and mathematics.<br><br><br>Secondly, and more importantly, if English schools are revived, they<br>would likely attract students from stronger socioeconomic backgrounds.<br>Malay-, Tamil- and to a lesser extent, Chinese-medium schools might<br>eventually be reduced to inferior education providers, inviting the<br>wrath of ethno-nationalists from every community.<br><br>By sacrificing academic standards across the board, ETeMS avoids such<br>political embarrassment and covers up the real need to beef up<br>English-language education for the weaker students in all streams.<br><br>In a nutshell, this policy is political expediency at its worst.<br><br>The main casualties are now weaker students from poorer families and<br>rural schools. Most of them will learn little in mathematics and<br>sciences with minimal, if any, improvement in their command of<br>English. These underperforming students are likely to fill up the<br>lowest paid jobs in
future, hence frustrating upward social mobility.<br><br>However, students from more advantaged backgrounds suffer, too. They<br>learn less mathematics and science than they otherwise would because<br>the current standard for the two subjects needs to be lowered to<br>produce evidence of success. They also cannot learn other non-language<br>subjects in English if they want to.<br><br>The win-win solution<br><br>The ETeMS debate, now framed as a "yes" or "no" dichotomy,<br>is<br>effectively a tug of war between the pro-English elites and other<br>Malaysians.<br><br>The policy must go if we do not want continued injustice towards more<br>students from disadvantaged backgrounds.<br><br>Reverting to the old status quo is however not tenable. It would deny<br>both the nation's developmental needs and the preference of<br>pro-English parents and students.<br><br>But we need not be caught between two false choices.<br><br>Reviving English schools will not only
meet the need of improving the<br>standard of English in a purely utilitarian sense. It also fits the<br>argument for upholding mother-tongue education — English is, after<br>all, increasingly the mother tongue of Malaysians of all ethnic<br>backgrounds, whether Malay, Chinese, Indian, Dayak, Kadazandusun, or<br>Eurasian.<br><br>What about national unity? This is a question that may be asked by<br>supporters of ETeMS as a gradualist method to eliminate multi-stream<br>education.<br><br>The answer is again straightforward. Firstly, a single-stream<br>education system could not possibly maximise the use of the English<br>language for every single student anyway. One must thus choose between<br>better, albeit varying, standards of English for everyone or the<br>homogenisation of the education system.<br><br>Secondly, blaming communal division mainly on the education system is<br>intellectually lazy and unreflective. Intercommunal solidarity is<br>built
not through homogenisation, but through cleavages that cut<br>across communal lines. How the ill-thought promotion of English has<br>unintentionally unified the Malay, Chinese and Tamil educationists is<br>a case in point.<br><br><br>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br><br>-- <br>**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to<br>its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner<br>or sponsor of<br>the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who<br>disagree with a<br>message are encouraged to post a rebuttal. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br>*******************************************<br></pre><pre>Soundcheck Blog<br>La musique ist der language internazionale<br>By John Schaefer<br>March 4, 2009<br><br>Making fun of the French has become almost a national pastime.<br>(Saturday Night Live in 1989:
this week the Berlin Wall fell and East<br>and West Germany were reunited. In a related story, France offered to<br>surrender.) It’s really not fair, but let’s face it, sometimes the<br>French just make it so easy. Like the current contretemps about French<br>singers daring to sing in English. The French government and many<br>(especially older) French folk believe that to maintain their special<br>and unique identity as Frenchmen, they must protect their language<br>from the global onslaught of English.<br><br>Don’t these people understand that rock and rap came from<br>English-speaking countries and that all over the world, young people<br>grow up hearing, and learning, English as the native language of pop?<br>Would they outlaw Gregorian Chant because it’s in Latin, or the operas<br>of Verdi and Puccini because they’re in Italian? (Come to think of it,<br>I guess this isn’t a new problem, since more than one famous Italian<br>composer
found himself obliged to have operas translated into French<br>in order to have them performed there.)<br><br>Of course, I readily admit that I don’t understand the French<br>obsession with the purity of their language because, as an English<br>speaker, I don’t have to. But if the situation were reversed, how<br>would we Americans feel? It’s a purely hypothetical question, but we<br>do have some hints as to the answer. Just look at our pop charts -<br>Americans are among the most resistant people in the world when it<br>comes to listening to songs in another language.<br><br>If the French want an example to follow, they don’t have to look much<br>further than their German-speaking neighbors. Germany too tried to<br>nurture its own rock/pop scene in the late 60s/early 70s, with the<br>result that a whole early generation of German rockers, singing in<br>German, reached an audience that consisted exclusively of other German<br>speakers. In the
70s, they got around the language barrier by doing<br>electronic instrumental work - the so-called krautrock of Tangerine<br>Dream, harmonia, Cluster, and of course Kraftwerk, whose use of simple<br>German phrases in “Autobahn” was simply part of the texture and didn’t<br>scare off English speakers or anyone else.<br><br>Kraftwerk would eventually record in English (”Pocket Calculator”),<br>and Austrian rock/rapper Falco would hit the American charts in the<br>1980s with songs written in a youthful slang that reflected what young<br>German-speakers heard when they listened to pop music: namely, a<br>Spanglish-style mix of English and their native tongue. This was<br>global music, and if there are now French artists trying to do the<br>same thing, why would the government and other critics want to stop<br>them? One ugly answer is racism - France has large immigrant<br>populations from West Africa and the Arab world, and the right wing
in<br>France claims this poses a threat to the future of French culture.<br>(Sound familiar?) But the whole point of culture is that it evolves;<br>if you try to preserve it, you end up with a culture that is stuck in<br>time -like a dinosaur preserved in a tar pit. And how to do you force<br>the language issue on a generation that now gets much of its media and<br>entertainment from a global, digital network? France, it’s time to<br>surrender.<br><br>Tell us: what do you think of France’s “protectionism” of its native<br>language? Are we any different here in the States?<br><br>http://blogs.wnyc.org/soundcheck/2009/03/04/musique-ist-der-language-internazionale/<br><br>-- <br>**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to<br>its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner<br>or sponsor of<br>the list as to the veracity of a message's contents.
Members who<br>disagree with a<br>message are encouraged to post a rebuttal. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br>*******************************************<br></pre><pre>Unhappy parents boycott CSAPs in Commerce City<br><br>They keep their students out of a Adams 14 school in protest of school changes.<br>By Jeremy P. Meyer<br>The Denver Post<br><br><br><br>Jesus Chacon-Pacheco, 10, and his mother, Consuelo Pacheco, protest<br>outside the Adams 14 administration building in Commerce City on<br>Tuesday. "No Judy, no CSAP," one student said in reference to<br>principal Judy Jaramillo's being placed on leave. ( Hyoung Chang, The<br>Denver Post )<br><br><br>Rankings of school districts by CSAP improvementCSAP scores reflect<br>gains for Denver schoolsCOMMERCE CITY — Parents pulled their children<br>from state assessment tests Tuesday to protest recent moves in Adams<br>14 School District.<br><br>Parents of 67 students at Hanson preschool through eighth grade
opted<br>out of the Colorado Student Assessment Program tests because they are<br>upset about the removal of the school's principal, changes to the<br>district's bilingual-education program and a new calendar that<br>eliminates the year-round schedule.<br><br>"It's like they said, 'No Judy, No CSAP,' " said<br>9-year-old Manny<br>Gonzales, referring to principal Judy Jaramillo, who on Feb. 11 was<br>placed on paid administrative leave for undisclosed personnel reasons.<br><br>Manny's father, Mark Gonzales, is leading the protest that removed a<br>quarter of the<br><br><br><br>Opting out of CSAP as a way to protest district decisions not related<br>to the tests is uncommon.<br><br>"They are using their resources, and we are using ours," said Claudia<br>Infante, a parent who also chose to opt out her children.<br><br>Tuesday, Gonzales held a news conference in front of the district's<br>administration building and said he hopes the number of
students<br>opting out will get the state's attention and open a dialogue between<br>the district and parents over some of the changes.<br><br>Mark Stevens, spokesman for the Colorado Department of Education, said<br>missing-student scores will negatively affect the school's ratings on<br>the state's accountability system and data that track student academic<br>growth.<br><br>District spokesman John Albright said the district could not discuss<br>why Jaramillo was removed but that it has nothing to do with changes<br>in the school's bilingual-education program.<br><br>Albright also said parents have had their say at board meetings, and<br>two community meetings have been scheduled for later this month to<br>discuss changes to the district's language plan.<br><br>Fifty-four percent of Adams 14's 6,500 students are English-language<br>learners, and recent studies have shown they are not becoming fluent<br>in English as they move through the
district.<br><br>"The majority of students who have been in the district for six years<br>still remain limited in proficiency of English," said Superintendent<br>Sue Chandler in a letter to parents. "There is little indication of<br>progress in literacy and language."<br><br>Chandler said the district is ditching its bilingual policy that was<br>"overly proscriptive" and moving to a flexible policy that will<br>"allow<br>the district to develop a program to best meet the needs of all<br>students who are acquiring English."<br><br>"The fact is we haven't changed it yet," Albright said about the<br>new<br>language policy. "But we know we need to do something better."<br><br>http://www.denverpost.com/previous2/home/ci_11830285<br><br>-- <br>**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to<br>its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner<br>or sponsor
of<br>the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who<br>disagree with a<br>message are encouraged to post a rebuttal. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br>*******************************************<br></pre><pre>Columbia Journalism Review Launches Chinese-Language Edition in China<br>New publication brings CJR’s analysis of U.S. media to critical foreign<br>audience<br><br>By The Editors<br><br>Single Page Print Email Comments Digg Facebook Reddit StumbleUpon<br>Delicious New York, NY (March 3, 2009) — The Columbia Journalism<br>Review (CJR) has launched a Chinese-language edition published and<br>distributed in China. This is the first time the Columbia Journalism<br>Review will regularly publish a foreign-language edition since its<br>founding in 1961. The inaugural issue was released in December 2008.<br><br>CJR has partnered with the World Executive Group (WEG), a China-based<br>private company specializing in strategic consulting and
information<br>research, to publish each of its bimonthly issues. The new<br>publication, called Columbia Journalism Review Chinese (or<br>CJRChinese), also includes up to 20 percent of original content<br>created by WEG and branded separately from CJR.<br><br>Based at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, the<br>Columbia Journalism Review examines the media industry and its<br>coverage of current issues in politics, the environment, business, and<br>other areas. The Review’s reporting, analysis, criticism, and<br>commentary are widely read by members of the press as well as<br>educators, media executives, and others who desire in-depth analysis<br>of the media and current affairs.<br><br>The advent of a Chinese edition of the Columbia Journalism Review<br>reflects the growing need for open dialogue about the media and its<br>coverage of significant issues, not only in the United States and<br>China, but also in countries around the
world.<br><br>“I hope that CJRChinese helps push forward the development of a free<br>press in China,” said Dean Nicholas Lemann of Columbia’s Graduate<br>School of Journalism.<br><br>Original CJR articles in the first issue of CJRChinese include: “Love<br>Thy Neighbor: The Religion Beat in an Age of Intolerance,” by Tim<br>Townsend (May/June 2008); “May I Speak Freely: Anthony Lewis on the<br>First Amendment’s March to Victory,” a review by Aryeh Neier<br>(January/February 2008); and “Red Ink Rising: How the Press Missed a<br>Sea Change in the Credit-Card Industry” (March/April 2008), by Dean<br>Starkman. The section of the magazine created by WEG includes material<br>on “The World’s 500 Most Influential Brands of 2008.”<br><br>“Given the vastly different press traditions in our respective<br>countries,” said Victor Navasky, chairman of CJR, “we consider the<br>advent of CJRChinese a major cultural breakthrough. We
expect that the<br>information and analysis that is the hallmark of the Columbia<br>Journalism Review will provide unfamiliar perspectives to our new<br>Chinese readers, and that the relationship will also improve our own<br>understanding of journalism in China, a country whose influence in<br>world affairs continues to grow daily.”<br><br>Issues of the Columbia Journalism Review are translated into Mandarin<br>by the World Executive Group and vetted by CJR-hired bilingual<br>speakers and readers of Chinese and English, who work closely with CJR<br>staff, before publication in CJRChinese. The company will initially<br>distribute copies to key members of the Chinese media and also sell<br>single copies; they estimate an initial print run of around 12,000.<br><br>“We at the World Executive Group are pleased to be partners with the<br>Columbia Journalism Review, a respected publication and peerless<br>resource for the press,” said Ding Hai Sen,
founder and CEO of World<br>Executive Group. “There are more than 10 million members of the media<br>in China, and for every eight employees there is a manager. We are<br>confident they hold great expectations for our partnership with CJR.”<br><br>The World Executive Group, which has offices in Beijing, Shanghai,<br>Shenzhen, and Hong Kong, where CJRChinese will be published, is<br>chaired by Nobel laureate Robert A. Mundell, Columbia University<br>professor of economics. CEO and founder Ding Hai Sen is an alumnus of<br>Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs as is the World<br>Executive Group’s Vice President and CFO, Yuan Hao Dong.<br><br><br>About the Columbia Journalism Review<br><br>Columbia Journalism Review’s mission is to encourage and stimulate<br>excellence in journalism in the service of a free society. It is both<br>a watchdog and a friend of the press in all its forms, from newspapers<br>to magazines to radio,
television, and the Web. Founded in 1961 under<br>the auspices of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism,<br>CJR examines day-to-day press performance as well as the forces that<br>affect that performance. The magazine is published six times a year,<br>and offers a deliberative mix of reporting, analysis, criticism, and<br>commentary. CJR.org delivers real-time criticism and reporting, giving<br>CJR a vital presence in the ongoing conversation about the media.<br><br>http://www.cjr.org/events/columbia_journalism_review_lau.php<br><br>-- <br>**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to<br>its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner<br>or sponsor of<br>the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who<br>disagree with a<br>message are encouraged to post a rebuttal. (H. Schiffman,
Moderator)<br>*******************************************<br></pre></blockquote></td></tr></table><br>