At first I though, no me jodas!, Kansas again?!
As if we needed more evidence that Kansas was hell bent on ruining the job prospects of every young person in that godforsaken state:
"It was, like, totally not in the classroom," the high school junior said, recalling the infraction. "We were in the, like, hall or whatever, on restroom break. This kid I know, he's like, 'Me prestas un dolar?' ['Will you lend me a dollar?'] Well, he asked in Spanish; it just seemed natural to answer that way. So I'm like, 'No problema.' "
But that conversation turned out to be a big problem for the staff at the Endeavor Alternative School, a small public high school in an ethnically mixed blue-collar neighborhood. A teacher who overheard the two boys sent Zach to the office, where Principal Jennifer Watts ordered him to call his father and leave the school.
Watts, whom students describe as a disciplinarian, said she can't discuss the case. But in a written "discipline referral" explaining her decision to suspend Zach for 1 1/2 days, she noted: "This is not the first time we have [asked] Zach and others to not speak Spanish at school."
So, in a country with a globalizing economy, in which the fastest growing population is hispanic, and where "20 percent of the U.S. school-age population is Latino," not to mention the fact that being multilingual is a skill that most people in the United States can't be bothered to even attempt, and where there are rural schools that have to hire itinerant foreign language teachers to drive all over hell's half acre just to get kids basic training, it's also a country "where schools want to ban foreign languages."
And of course, I'm sure it chapped their asses to have it pointed out by the young man's U.S. citizen father:
"You can't just walk in and become a citizen," he said. "They make you take this government test. I studied for that test, and I learned that in America, they can't punish you unless you violate a written policy."
Rubio said he remembered that lesson on Nov. 28, when he received a call from Endeavor Alternative saying his son had been suspended.
"So I went to the principal and said, 'My son, he's not suspended for fighting, right? He's not suspended for disrespecting anyone. He's suspended for speaking Spanish in the hall?' So I asked her to show me the written policy about that. But they didn't have" one.
Hey, guess what? There are some "real Americans" in Kansas. And it looks to me like they speak Spanish:
Said Rubio: "I'm mainly doing this for other Mexican families, where the legal status is kind of shaky and they are afraid to speak up. Punished for speaking Spanish? Somebody has to stand up and say: This is wrong."
Qué coñazo! Pinche profesor! Kansas es mas feo que un culo!
WaPo via Crooks and Liars.
Esperen un minuto! Ya tenemos una actualización! Pandagon y Esteban.
Posted by binky at December 9, 2005 07:36 PM | TrackBack | Posted to El Infierno de kansas