NJ residents taking GED tests in Spanish

[Suburban]

I was just listening to this on the way home, on the Dom Giordano show.


Link to NJ Star Ledger newspaper story

"The state's first Spanish-only GED testing site is set to open next month in a Newark social service agency called La Casa de Don Pedro. Officials there said offering Spanish speakers a chance to earn their diploma in their native tongue will improve their odds of getting a job and going on with their studies."

"some 907 New Jerseyans took it in that language in 2007, the most recent numbers available"

"Melendez said. 'My personal opinion is, everyone has an equal opportunity to an education regardless of what their first language is.'"

"'My understanding is from their experience in dealing with different new citizens, there was a need for something like this,' said Richard Vespucci, a spokesman for the state Department of Education." (emphasis added)

But wait. . . there's more. . .

"Beatriz Colon of Newark is one person who could be helped by the Spanish test. Colon, 40, said through an interpreter that she would like to take the GED in Spanish -- as would her 18-year-old daughter. Colon moved here from Argentina 10 years ago, and her daughter joined her three weeks ago. Both have green cards, Colon said. (emphasis added)

"Colon, who works at a beauty parlor in Newark, said her employer has asked her to work toward getting the degree. Her daughter wants to attend college.

"Colon is studying English as a second language, but said she's not yet ready for the demands of the GED exam.

"'It would take me a long time to learn enough English,' she said"

Aren't people emersed in other languages usually pretty fluent in a matter of months? We need to stop enabling this crap.

Feel free to label me as a racist if you want. If you really want to work in the country, you ought to be reasonably fluent in English. Do we really need more people in the country? Seems to me that we already have more people here than we have room for. Less people = less pollution, less energy use, less government (cough fewer people to care for), etc.

[zackattack784]

Sadly, we have no "official" language here in the United States.

[Suburban]

So, instead of standardizing, we're going to encourage everyone going in different directions?

I'm having a mental image of a drill sergeant giving rifle drill commands in English. . . then Spanish. . . then Vietnamese. . .

[Michele]

This has been going on for YEARS in other states. And the test is not only available in Spanish, but other languages as well.

What I find even more puzzling is being able to take the driving permit test in any language you choose. You can also have an instructor administer your road test in a language of your choosing. Imagine trying to read signs in English if you can't read or write it?

[625]

Since when does ANY bureaucracy run efficiently? This is no better than greedy businesses that have multi-language phone menus. Except, they make more money by catering to people who can't speak the language. State and Federal governments waste millions on multi-language forms each year. Who's millions are they wasting?

[camper]

So, instead of standardizing, we're going to encourage everyone going in different directions?

I'm having a mental image of a drill sergeant giving rifle drill commands in English. . . then Spanish. . . then Vietnamese. . .

No, the vietnamese aren't important enough or favored enough. Only spanish speaking immigrants get special and/or favored treatment. All other non-english speaking immigrants lower than the spanish speaking ones, as evidenced by the lack of representation in product labels and programs which allow a person who's been here for 20 years to never learn english.

Right? I mean...thats what I understand when I see the favoritism of one immigrant group over another.

Personally, I say we need to declare a national language. Be it english, spanish, ebonics, german, french, farsi, etc. Get people speaking it, and if they want to talk their native tongue in their own circles or in businesses that serve them in that language more power to them.

Otherwise, it appears as if latinos are the favored race in this country, when there shouldn't be any favored race at all.

camper

[wis bang]

No, the vietnamese aren't important enough or favored enough. Only spanish speaking immigrants get special and/or favored treatment. All other non-english speaking immigrants lower than the spanish speaking ones, as evidenced by the lack of representation in product labels and programs which allow a person who's been here for 20 years to never learn english.

Right? I mean...thats what I understand when I see the favoritism of one immigrant group over another.

Personally, I say we need to declare a national language. Be it english, spanish, ebonics, german, french, farsi, etc. Get people speaking it, and if they want to talk their native tongue in their own circles or in businesses that serve them in that language more power to them.

Otherwise, it appears as if latinos are the favored race in this country, when there shouldn't be any favored race at all.

camper

Actually NJ gives the drivers test in 28 different languages...It's all done on a computer to stop the 'translator' from tipping off the answers.

[Eugene V. Debs]

I'm generally supportive of immigration, some aspects of multiculturalism, and a more-or-less open borders arrangement with any country we have free trade agreements with, but even I think this is a really, really bad idea. Bilingual education is one thing, but this is going too far. Whether you think English should be an official language or not, having competency in another language is ALWAYS a good thing and we should not be dumbing-down tests to accommodate those unwilling or incapable of learning English, thereby creating passive and implicit disincentives to learning English.

Regardless of your position on immigration, legal or otherwise, it's completely reasonable to expect immigrants will learn the primary (if not "official") language of the country they have moved to, and that speakers of the dominant language should not be expected to accommodate those unwilling or incapable of learning it. The social services center would do better to use the resources being committed to Spanish-only GED classes for ESL classes.

[7998]

Oh Good Lord! Can't we push new jersey out to sea already and let it float across to europe.