by Jose Lee
The Whittle High School near Lake Tahoe got an unusual speech from the principal, Crespin Esquivel. He congratulated the graduating class of 2011, but he did it in Spanish… as well as English, and this upset a few parents.
Since some of the other parents only speak Spanish Esquivel said: “I figured why not do it in Spanish and English? I think it’s important for me to make sure all the families feel comfortable.”
He said he never meant to offend anyone. But it appears he did. One woman who sat through both speeches wrote a letter to the editor in a local newspaper saying Esquival “crossed the line”, “was inappropriate” and “took away from the recognition the students deserved.” Others had a different take, one lady said she wasn’t offended, “We’re a melting pot.” Another said, “No, I put my daughter in a school where she learns both English and Spanish.”
The woman who complained about Esquival’s Spanish translation sparked a debate online similar to one that has gotten national attention. I believe this speech was okay, but it does raise some questions. For example, didn’t those parents come here to learn English and be part of our society? So, why would they feel uncomfortable? This raises another question: Were the people who didn’t speak English and who felt uncomfortable here . . . legally? If they were illegal do we have a duty to make illegals feel comfortable by speaking their language?
You must have an ability to read, write and speak simple English to be a U.S. citizen. Green card workers don’t normally bring their families here and put their kids in school for years.
That’s the part of this news story that I really have to question, even though we could argue that English emersion is the best way to help new citizens assimilate. However, considering this school only has 33 students I see this bi-lingual speech as pretty harmless, even though it may have sent the wrong message. Bi-lingual ceremonies were repeated at many high schools throughout California this year and that’s very telling of our changing demographics. It also another hint that we have an illegal immigration problem and that it won’t be going away any time soon.
L.A. Times – “High school graduation season concluded last week across Los Angeles County. Before hundreds of people, in English and in Spanish, valedictorians, student body presidents and others from the Class of 2011 gave their culminating remarks.”
San Diego – “SAN DIEGO — For the first time, the commencement speech at Rancho Del Rey Middle School in Chula Vista was given in both English and Spanish. More than 800 students graduated Wednesday morning, including eighth-grader Haley Cromer. Cromer is one of about 150 participants in the school’s dual-language program and spoke at the graduation ceremony.”
In California, Hispanics make up about half of the students. And Esquival, in his first year as principal at Whittell, believes that if he’s got a tool to reach out to students and their parents, then why not use it? “I’m doing what is right for all my families and I know I’ll take a hit for it, but it won’t stop me from doing what’s right for my families,” he said.
Esquival says he’ll probably do the same thing at next year’s commencement.
The next story is a little more serious, and I agree with Tim Howard a player on the U.S. Soccer team. He created a big controversy after Saturday’s loss to Mexico during the gold cup final. Howard openly bashed tournament officials for allowing the award ceremony to be done in Spanish only. That was wrong and I also feel that all those Mexican- American fans that cheered for Mexico and boo’ed the American team should be sent back to Mexico – with revoked passports stamped, A-HOLES NOT WANTED.
Ya, I gotta wonder why Drudge would make such a big deal out of this by putting it on his page . . . .
Re: “Ya, I gotta wonder why Drudge would make such a big deal out of this by putting it on his page . . . . ”
Ya, I gotta wonder why Quentin thinks that such placement is a big friggin’ deal.
Note how Mr. Colgan dodges the language issue as if it had no significance.
Jack I agree with you that including a speech in Spanish as part of a commencement ceremony is probably not an earth shattering problem.
Having said that, I also think it’s important to maintain English as our national language. Some of this trend is about inclusiveness and celebrating heritage. Too much of it is an attempt to undermine the American identity, and possibly replace it.
We are a melting pot…the point is we “melt”! Every generation of immigrant before has melted and embraced America as his own. This is not the attitude of many who come here now.
The spectacle at the Rose Bowl was a disgrace. One of the (reportedly) 80% to 90% that booed the American team throughout the game claimed to be a citizen but said his heart would always be with Mexico (for sports).
I understand sport loyalties but I also expect respectful behavior toward the American team on American soil from our citizens. I can’t help but believe that the Mexican “takeover” of our southern California cities has been tolerated to a much greater degree than is reasonable or wise.
See all this nastiness over giving speeches in Spanish could have been avoided if they had all followed CSUC’s example and held segregated graduation ceremonies….so the students and their families would feel more comfortable of course! It’s not like college is a place to help people enter the real world and be part of the melting pot, no, this is a place where you go to have black studies and hold brown pride rallies and have Hispanic student unions and Black student unions and such…so they can feel more comfortable being with their own kind.
Sort of like going to the DMV now-adays Huh!
Back in May 2001, President George W. Bush gave his weekly radio address in Spanish. Did you have a problem with that?
I mostly agree with this article. Of course as an isolated incident, giving a speech in English and Spanish isn’t a big deal, and there’s no reason to be offended by it. My high school graduation had announcements in English and Spanish, and I remember my mom being offended, but she couldn’t really explain why. But I have to admit to being alarmed by the trend. I work at Wal-Mart, and while I am always friendly to the non-English speaking customers, and I try to interact with them with what little Spanish I know, I find it depressing when there are ten customers in a row who simply don’t understand how to respond to “How are you?” I understand that these people are usually hard workers without a whole lot of leisure time, and they are usually past the age where it’s easy to learn a whole new language. But how hard is it to learn a few key phrases? I am not angry with them, I mostly just find it sad that there are so many people in my town that can’t communicate effectively with the rest.
I like that America does not have an official language, and I think the founders didn’t set up one for a reason. But language is a barrier, and it’s one that seems to be getting stronger in our society. That can’t be good for any of us.
Yes, I did have a problem with GWB giving speeches in Spanish, I also had a huge problem with his policy on illegal immigration, I disagreed much of GWB.
I also agreed with much of what he did,
Why is it that when we talk about the policies of Democrats that are on the way to messing up this counry, liberals bring up the rhetoric “He did it too”,
“Back in May 2001, President George W. Bush gave his weekly radio address in Spanish. Did you have a problem with that? ” Jim
Jim as I said I in my article I don’t think its’ a big deal in the context of reaching out to non-English speaking persons at a small graduation to make them feel comfortable or even having our president give a weekly speech in Spanish and English. I personally didn’t like him doing that, but I didn’t say much. But, like all good things there comes a tipping point and speaking Spanish in government like a second language is my tipping point.
Tina said it best when she said, I also think it’s important to maintain English as our national language. Some of this trend is about inclusiveness and celebrating heritage. Too much of it is an attempt to undermine the American identity, and possibly replace it.
We are a melting pot…the point is we “melt”! Every generation of immigrant before has melted and embraced America as his own. This is not the attitude of many who come here now.
The spectacle at the Rose Bowl was a disgrace. One of the (reportedly) 80% to 90% that booed the American team throughout the game claimed to be a citizen but said his heart would always be with Mexico (for sports).
I understand sport loyalties but I also expect respectful behavior toward the American team on American soil from our citizens. I can’t help but believe that the Mexican “takeover” of our southern California cities has been tolerated to a much greater degree than is reasonable or wise.
Jim this wouldnt even be an issue if we didnt have 12-14 million illegal aliens here overloading the system and causing so many problems for the American society. So when high school graduations start being given in Spanish and English, yeah its a sensitive issue for people. You can understand that cant you?
If you look back into the history of public education, which began in the 1750’s, the whole objective was to teach English to the new immigrants coming into this country. The objective of teaching English was so the whole nation could understand what was taking place.
I have too often gone into classrooms today where students were supposed be to taught in English and Spanish to find that for the most part they could read or write neither language. They were being failed on both parts. You can look at the statistics in a previous story printed here and see what is happening. Yes, parents have to be the ones ultimately responsible for the education of their child. If you are not educated yourself and your child comes home with a useless passing report card you assume your child is learning. By what standards can that parent use to see if their child is really being educated?
I was in a Chico elementary school where more than one student could not recite the alphabet at the end of first grade. They had no such problems with their numerical facts and could add and subtract. That says they did not have a cognitive disfunction. Something was amiss here and I think it is the way Special Education money is allocated.
The principal of the high school was right and wrong. His speech should have been in English with a congratulations to the parents at the end in both languages. Felicidades all!
Clova excellent points. It’s important for the citizens of our country to share a common language for many reasons.
First grade teachers should make reading the top priority. A child that can’t read will fail year after year in all subjects. If some students are struggling the teacher should double down on her efforts to bring them up to speed. That’s what my second grade teacher did with a handful of us students that hadn’t achieved grade level skills in first grade. She brought us through both years in one…I loved that woman and thanked her for the rest of my school years. (And she wasn’t a special education teacher…just a dedicated one!)