Language

Language has always been important to me. I think it has to do with the fact that it's something I've always struggled with. I've taken Spanish classes since my freshman year in high school and I still can't speak it. I envy those who can. My sister has spent the past several years traveling to Spanish speaking places and can know speak it well. She has even dreamt in Spanish before. I hate it that there are races who have been dined an education in languages besides English. I wish language came more easily to me; aside from my wish to speak a second language, I would love for my native English language to come more easily for me. I have grown up knowing the influence language has on the way people think and I find that fascinating. Everyone could lean so much about the world if they understood it from more than one language. Discouraging the use of multiple languages makes no sense to me. I find the most impressive people to be those who speak multiple languages. Plus other languages are so cool to listen to. There's something about not understanding a language that allows me to pay close attention to the way it flows and the way a person's mouth moves when she is speaking. I think it would be great to hear people speak many languages all over the U.S., but that isn't the reality because many people don't know how to speak anything besides English. For me, I don't like to compare this country to other's, because those other countries have a different history than America does. America is supposed to be a country full of people from all over the world. While no one can prevent time from passing and things from changing, we should encourage everyone to live a speak the same. That's not the way Americans, white Americans, like to think of their country (as uniform), but that's the way it has become. I guess the language problem is just another example of the way white Americans have contradicted themselves.

The same thing can be said for the No Child Left Behind Act. Bush said that the act is what it says, no child will be left behind. But what about all those kids who aren't good test takers? There are many reasons why a child wouldn't do well on a standardized test. Learning disabilities is the reason why I don't do well on tests. But if a child comes from background where learning to skill of test taking isn't on the top of the list, they aren't going to do well on a test either. I'm not trying to say that tests are all bad, but the standardized tests have proven to not predict as many things as they were designed to predict. It also discriminates against people who have a lot more than their race to hold them back in the system that has been created. In Class in America: Myths and Realities, there is a lot of discussion about the assumptions out in the world about the opportunities people have in this country. Well, the No Child Left Behind Act is assuming that test taking is a nature skill all humans prosess when in reality it is a skill that is taught and one that takes years to prefect.