greg334
Veteran Expediter
I am one who struggles with English due to being educated in public schools and this is the reason I strongly feel we need to eliminate public schools but that is another thread for another time. My extent of English education during my school years up to my graduation was less than my niece had in grade school and it was only in College that I was given a second chance by a rather odd professor who I truly think was Hemmingway himself (looks, attitude and writing).
But I think that my example still applies to many students in the school systems today and especially with immigrants (not invaders) and urban minorities, no one really seems to care. The former are not required to learn English to enter this country but the latter has been ignoring everything to create a situation where we now have schools telling the teachers not to correct the students English grammar because of fear of being called racist and to the extent that a few schools are studying the ‘new urban’ English to see if it can be taught in all schools (by the way being paid for by our tax dollars).
So after that intro, here is the problem – we in this country do not believe in a single language to improve the country but China has been pushing forward with improving their English speaking skills in preparation of the 2008 Olympics.
They have been telling people in Beijing that you learn English properly or you can’t do business here, example taxi drivers must pass an English test to keep their licenses.
But I think that my example still applies to many students in the school systems today and especially with immigrants (not invaders) and urban minorities, no one really seems to care. The former are not required to learn English to enter this country but the latter has been ignoring everything to create a situation where we now have schools telling the teachers not to correct the students English grammar because of fear of being called racist and to the extent that a few schools are studying the ‘new urban’ English to see if it can be taught in all schools (by the way being paid for by our tax dollars).
So after that intro, here is the problem – we in this country do not believe in a single language to improve the country but China has been pushing forward with improving their English speaking skills in preparation of the 2008 Olympics.
They have been telling people in Beijing that you learn English properly or you can’t do business here, example taxi drivers must pass an English test to keep their licenses.
And BTW: who's Barbara Billingsly?
