pledgin allegiance is not enough...

Tue Mar 1 18:33:05 UTC 2005

Dr. Luykx, You may be right but as Rep. Livvy Floren, "ranking member on the
Government Administration and Elections Committee" said, they will probably
take up the bill next year and the reason they have avoided it is because of
time, NOT because of "any ideological opposition". As long as
multilingualism is seen as a problem and not a resource/right, I doubt
anti-bilingual legislation will ever really be dead in the water in the U.S.
It seems that once interest is piqued, resources are mobilized and the
anti-bilingual camp can effectively convince enough of the politicians and
the public that bi-ed is hurting kids. I think the policy discursive
environment and linguistic culture affect language policy
creation/implementation and Piscopo is now helping to shape the language
policy discursive context. His comments might not be indicative of any
future action and the bill may never see the light of day, but it still
might not be totally useless? I dunno. It's certainly debatable.

>From: Aurolyn Luykx <aurolynluykx at yahoo.com>
>Reply-To: lgpolicy-list at ccat.sas.upenn.edu
>To: lgpolicy-list at ccat.sas.upenn.edu
>Subject: Re: pledgin allegiance is not enough...
>Date: Tue, 1 Mar 2005 09:11:20 -0800 (PST)
>
>Personally I wouldn't spend time on it, given that the
>bill seems to be dead in the water, and the article
>already gave some space to a dissenting argument
>(Trinidad's), though (admittedly) not a particularl
>effective one.
>See the attached for a particularly blood-boiling
>example of anti-bilingual boneheadedness...
>Aurolyn
>
>--- David Johnson <davidcasselsjohnson at hotmail.com>
>wrote:
>
> > In a previous email, Dr. Schiffman suggested that
> > responses be developed for
> > Gregg Easterbrook's article in the New Republic. In
> > a previous lgpolicy
> > strain, a conversation was generated by another list
> > member, Francis Hult,
> > about linguistic and educational scholars lacking
> > access to the public
> > relations and/or political machinery that might help
> > engender more
> > multilingual language policies in the U.S. and stop
> > initiatives such as
> > anti-bilingual education laws. (Is that close
> > Francis? If I'm getting it
> > wrong let me know...)
> >
> > Following Professor Schiffman's example, I would
> > like to suggest that brief
> > letters be written in response to Rep. John
> > Piscopo's comments in the
> > article below. He makes some clearly erroneous
> > statements, seemingly based
> > more on ideological (or perhaps political)
> > orientations towards language
> > than on any educational linguistic research.
> > Interestingly, Piscopo seems to
> > use bilingual education's failure as support for an
> > English-Only law (even
> > though other anti-bilingual education advocates like
> > Rosalie Porter are
> > quick to disassociate with the English-Only camp).
> >
> > This seems like an opportunity for those who are
> > interested to engage a
> > policitician who has burgeoning interests in
> > spearheading English-Only
> > legislation and seems to have bilingual education on
> > his radar. So, I am
> > willing to compile and synthesize any letters sent
> > to me which I will then
> > send to John Piscopo. I'm imagining a polite and
> > reasonably brief letter,
> > quickly outlining the benefits of bilingual
> > education. Letters from
> > Connecticut people (Connecticutians?) are
> > encouraged. Who knows how he'll
> > respond - my bet is a very vague, meaningless form
> > letter will arrive long
> > after I forget who John Piscopo is. But, who knows?
> > -David
> >
> > >From: "Harold F. Schiffman"
> > <haroldfs at ccat.sas.upenn.edu>
> > >Reply-To: lgpolicy-list at ccat.sas.upenn.edu
> > >To: Language Policy-List
> > <lgpolicy-list at ccat.sas.upenn.edu>
> > >Subject: Bill to make English official language of
> > Connecticut Fails
> > >Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2005 09:38:32 -0500 (EST)
> > >
> > >
> > >02/18/2005 Thomaston Express
> > >Piscopo's quest for English language takes hit
> > >KARSTEN STRAUSS , Special to The Express
> > >
> > >THOMASTON - A hearing for Rep. John Piscopo's,
> > R-76, bill to make English
> > >the official language of Connecticut has been
> > denied by the Government
> > >Administration and Elections Committee.  Piscopo
> > said he has introduced
> > >the bill nine times before and has only received
> > one hearing in the late
> > >1990s, when the legislation came under fire and was
> > not sent to the House
> > >for a vote.
> > >
> > >"I was hoping for a public hearing this year out of
> > colleague courtesy,"
> > >Piscopo said. "But it doesn't look like its going
> > to happen." Piscopo said
> > >that opposition to the bill comes from those who
> > feel it is mean-spirited,
> > >divisive and even racist - something that he
> > strongly denies. Piscopo also
> > >said there are those who wish to bar legislation
> > that has economic
> > >interests at stake.
> > >
> > >"There's an entrenched bureaucracy in the state
> > that makes a living off of
> > >printing and education, and other agencies that are
> > entrenched in
> > >multilingual endeavors," he said. The bill, which
> > according to Piscopo is
> > >largely symbolic, would declare English as the
> > state's official language.
> > >As far as changes to the way the state or
> > educational curriculum is run in
> > >Connecticut, Piscopo said that driver's licenses,
> > voting ballots and voter
> > >registration documents would be printed only in
> > English.
> > >
> > >"We want to state that Connecticut is a state with
> > English as the official
> > >language so that everybody can assimilate and learn
> > this universal
> > >language of commerce and to get ahead faster," he
> > said. Piscopo said that
> > >bilingual education, once thought to benefit
> > children raised to speak
> > >foreign languages, is in fact holding those
> > children back.
> > >
> > >"You do not help a non-English speaking student by
> > keeping them at least
> > >three years in their native tongue," Piscopo said.
> > "The best way we can
> > >help someone that does not speak English that comes
> > to this country and
> > >this state is to teach them English as quickly as
> > possible through English
> > >immersion, or just English as a second language,
> > not teach them in their
> > >native tongue." Piscopo says he has backing from
> > Hispanic mothers who
> > >would like to see their children assimilate more
> > completely into the
> > >English-speaking curriculum.
> > >
> > >"We need these kids to have an equal opportunity to
> > go through the process
> > >of transition from one culture, one language to
> > another one," said
> > >Torrington Board of Education member Edgar
> > Trinidad, who disagrees
> > >strongly with Piscopo's views on bilingual
> > education. "I know many great
> > >professionals who have been in bilingual
> > education." "I don't know of what
> > >world this gentleman is," Trinidad said of Piscopo.
> >  "Maybe he doesn't
> > >have kids in school. It's proven that bilingual
> > education is going to help
> > >the kid enjoy the concept of inclusion."
> > >
> > >Trinidad said that some aspects of bilingual
> > education need to be
> > >addressed, but not eliminated. Rep. Livvy Floren,
> > R-149, ranking member on
> > >the Government Administration and Elections
> > Committee said Piscopo's
> > >proposed bill was not given a hearing because the
> > commission's calendar
> > >for this year was too full, not because of the
> > merits of the bill or any
> > >ideological opposition.
> > >
> > >"It was just a matter of time and priorities, and
> > this just wasn't the
> > >year," Floren said. "Probably next year, when we
> > have a little bit less on
> > >our docket, we'll be able to get to it again."
> > Piscopo said he will be
> > >looking for an opportunity to submit the bill as an
> > amendment in the House
> > >of Representatives.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >http://www.zwire.com/site/printerFriendly.cfm?brd=1644&dept_id=10660&newsid=13970250
> > >
> >
> >
>
>
>
>
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