But they do learn English. There are no children in this country who aren't learning English and expected to learn English in order to graduate. Their parents may not speak English, but the children definitely learn English.

When I lived in Miami I knew several second generation Spanish speaking families whose children spoke Spanish only when they entered the first grade. They expected the school system to teach them English. Children that spoke many other languages were also expected to be taught.

MikeT, with all due respect, that's not always the case. I've worked with Spanish speaking children who've been in our district for 2 or 3 years with whom I was not able to have a conversation in English.

On the other hand, we had a student from India who spoke a dialect that no one else in this area spoke. The child was also at least 75% deaf. By the time she'd been here a year, I was able to converse with her.

I wish I had the answer to this problem. But there has to be a way to teach Spanish speaking children in Spanish so that they stay at grade level, without making it so easy for them to not learn English.

CAP -- I didn't say they learned automatically. I said the learned it eventually. Which is like other immigrant children have learned English over history. In 1930, educators had the same complaint about the Irish, Italians, Chinese and Germans. You are using extraordinary examples of children who speak languages that isolate them so much that they have to learn English. Sure, it's easier to live in a world where everyone speaks Spanish and you can get Spanish-language media. But there was a time when the same could be said about Italian or German.

Wayne, for 80% of the residents of Miami (who are legal residents of the United States, sometimes second and third generation), their first langauge is Spanish.

We are one of the few countries of the world that the majority of the residents speak only one language.

Don't you think that is much more frightening than your observations?

I agree, GT. Which brings me to the other side of the observations I made earlier.

I'm so in awe of the 5 and 6 years olds I see at school who speak flawless English even though they speak nothing but Spanish, Polish or Urdu/Guzrati, etc., at home. How fantastic for them to have complete command of two languages! And, in fact, in the case of some of the Indian and Pakistani kids, it's not unusual for them to be fluent in as many as five languages. How much more nimble their minds must be than those of us who speak only one language!

hate to break everyone's heart but my (and probably many others) Eastern European ancestor's native tongue wasn't English either. However, my great-grandfather gave up Slovak and learned English with an accent. It didn't take him over 30 yrs to do this, people who migrate here should learn what 95% of the people speak. I believe the Spanish people are the ones who are a little to arrogant and lazy.

I was eight years old when I moved to the U.S. from a European country. I learned to speak English in just a few weeks. I was never allowed to speak English at home though, which was actually good because my parents did not want me to forget my native tongue (and it worked).

I absolutely do not think that Hispanics in this country are lazy or arrogant just because they maybe don't learn the language as quickly as immigrants from other countries. There are whole communities in this country composed of Hispanics. What do you expect them to speak?? What foods do you expect them to eat?? Must everyone conform to our American standards?

I personally think this country is much more interesting with different ethnic groups, languages, foods, etc. We just need to embrace those differences and learn to live together regardless of how we look, what we eat, or what language we speak.

A little tolerance and kindness goes a long way. And yes, I am very grateful to live in a country where I am allowed to voice my opinion, and you are allowed to voice yours.

CAPH52: I totally agree and wish I had learned a 2nd & maybe a 3rd language at an early age.
I have friends in France that not only speak French well, they are fluent in German and Enlish and know a couple other languages also!
I wish I did!