Re: [lg policy] UK: Muslim women to be taught English in £20m, plan to beat 'backward attitudes'

[Dave Sayers]

Yeah I linked the Guardian's 7am story, which was basically just summarising David 
Cameron's article in the Times. You found a later Guardian article offering a critique.

But I still haven't seen/heard any discussion of how utterly meaningless this amount 
of money is. I'm not saying more money should be spent (teaching them Muslims how to 
speak proper!); I'm saying that this is not a (language) policy. It's fluff. It's a 
distraction. It's populist nonsense, mixed up with a load of toxic baseless bile 
about radicalisation. I can't help but think it's got something to do with Cameron's 
ongoing negotiations leading up to Britain's EU referendum, and bolstering his image 
as defender of Blighty against Johnny Foreigner.

I am quite tired and grouchy at the moment as I make my way towards the end of a 
large pile of marking..

Dave

--
Dr. Dave Sayers
Senior Lecturer, Dept Humanities, Sheffield Hallam University | www.shu.ac.uk
Honorary Research Fellow, Cardiff University & WISERD | www.wiserd.ac.uk
dave.sayers at cantab.net | http://shu.academia.edu/DaveSayers



On 18/01/2016 17:00, lgpolicy-list-request at groups.sas.upenn.edu wrote:
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Mon, 18 Jan 2016 16:38:39 +0000
> From: "Baron, Dennis E"<debaron at illinois.edu>
> Subject: Re: [lg policy] UK: Muslim women to be taught English in ?20m
> 	plan to beat 'backward attitudes'
> To: language language policy<lgpolicy-list at groups.sas.upenn.edu>
> Message-ID:<BCA8A4BC-A655-4EE9-933F-0DD2D099368D at illinois.edu>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> Not all rosy? Here’s the other half, Dave: New Tory Rules: Speak English or get out ---
>
> http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jan/18/david-cameron-stigmatising-muslim-women-learn-english-language-policy
>
> Dennis Baron
> Professor of English and Linguistics
> Department of English
> University of Illinois
> 608 S. Wright St.
> Urbana, IL 61801
>
> office: 217-305-0067
> English Dept: 217-333-2390
> fax: 217-333-4321
>
> http://www.illinois.edu/goto/debaron<http://illinois.edu/goto/debaron>
>
> read the Web of Language:
> https://illinois.edu/blog/view/25
>
>
>
> On Jan 18, 2016, at 1:39 AM, Dave Sayers<dave.sayers at cantab.net>  wrote:
>
> "Tens of thousands of Muslim women unable to speak English are to be given the chance to learn the language in a new government drive to build community integration and counter extremism.
>
> Launching a £20m language fund, David Cameron called for an end to the “passive tolerance” of separate communities which left many Muslim women facing discrimination and social isolation."
>
> More here:http://goo.gl/3QVjD2.
>
> I've heard enough episodes of BBC More or Less to ask how far that money will go. The article goes on to add: "The government estimates that there are 190,000 Muslim women in England who speak little or no English." So, £2m into 1.9k, that would work out at... £10.53 per person!
>
> Chump change for populist fluff then, basically.
>
> Dave
>
> --
> Dr. Dave Sayers
> Senior Lecturer, Dept Humanities, Sheffield Hallam University |www.shu.ac.uk
> Honorary Research Fellow, Cardiff University & WISERD |www.wiserd.ac.uk
> dave.sayers at cantab.net  |http://shu.academia.edu/DaveSayers
>

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