They sent my sons progress report home in SPANISH!?

[traditional_woman]

What is up with that? He handed it to me, and I saw all the spanish along with his grades and percentages, then I turned it over to see if the other side was in English, NOPE it's in Spanish.:rolleyes: We are not hispanic and when I signed the papers I checked off that we only speak Engrish.

What's up w/ Arizona?

[camarozz]

Wait for it...

Someone is going to call you a racist for that.

[RogerDodger]

Probably just a clerical error.

I assume if you signed papers indicating what language you speak, it won't be difficult to get a copy in English.

[LouC]

What is up with that? He handed it to me, and I saw all the spanish along with his grades and percentages, then I turned it over to see if the other side was in English, NOPE it's in Spanish.:rolleyes: We are not hispanic and when I signed the papers I checked off that we only speak Engrish.

What's up w/ Arizona?

"Engrish" :think:

"What we've got here is...failure to communicate."

Why not send the card back with a polite but stern letter informing them that what they submitted is flat out unacceptable.

"Failed"

[gdoane]

It's part of government cuts.

They could save momey by only printing in one language and they'd get sued if they didn't print in Espanol so English is the safer lingo to cut.

[Buschb]

It's part of government cuts.

They could save momey by only printing in one language and they'd get sued if they didn't print in Espanol so English is the safer lingo to cut.

wouldn't surprise me...

this is getting outta control

[thr3]

You could learn to read Spanish. Think of this as an opportunity

[gdoane]

You could learn to read Spanish. Think of this as an opportunity

Not a very usful skill unless you want a job with a payday loan joint.

[Clintville]

It's part of government cuts.

They could save momey by only printing in one language and they'd get sued if they didn't print in Espanol so English is the safer lingo to cut.
Yeah because that makes complete sense.

Jesus Christ :rolleyes:

[notluzn]

:)) :))

[Quid]

It may sound crazy and unAmerican to some, but fluency in Spanish will be a lucrative skill in the coming years. With the spanish speaking population in the US growing, employers will be looking for employees that can communicate with a non-english speaking customer base.

As a matter of fact, one of my old bosses was willing to pay employees who could speak spanish more because he wanted to expand his business into non-English markets.

[Drawz]

"Engrish" :think:

"What we've got here is...failure to communicate."

Why not send the card back with a polite but stern letter informing them that what they submitted is flat out unacceptable.

"Failed"

"Some men, you just can't reach. That's the way he wants it, well... he get's it!"

[Drawz]

It's part of government cuts.

They could save momey by only printing in one language and they'd get sued if they didn't print in Espanol so English is the safer lingo to cut.

Bull.
I'm all for saving "momey" though.

[flowercopter]

Not a very usful skill unless you want a job with a payday loan joint.

"With respect to modern languages, French, as I have before observed, is indispensable. Next to this the Spanish is most important to an American"

--Thomas Jefferson

[gdoane]

It may sound crazy and unAmerican to some, but fluency in Spanish will be a lucrative skill in the coming years. With the spanish speaking population in the US growing, employers will be looking for employees that can communicate with a non-english speaking customer base.

As a matter of fact, one of my old bosses was willing to pay employees who could speak spanish more because he wanted to expand his business into non-English markets.

The problem with a non-English speaking customer base is that the job opportunities in the USA for people who don't speak English are very limited. A customer base of barely employable people isn't very lucrative.

That's why these government agencies and schools and such do these folks no favor by enabling them to evade learning English.

It's especially bad that schools do it because their student is being doomed to the disadvantage of having nobody in his house who can help him with his English homework.

I have nothing against Spanish, I took 6 years of it in school and it's a pretty language but it's not very useful this side of the border.

[Drawz]

I have nothing against Spanish, I took 6 years of it in school and it's a pretty language but it's not very useful this side of the border.

What's your defintion of useful?
I live in Chicago and a working knowledge of Spanish is very useful (sadly I don't have one).
I'm guessing that since you live in an area that's very close to Mexico, you probably run into a lot of Spanish speakers, is your knowledge of their language not useful?

[SFC(R)L]

What is up with that? He handed it to me, and I saw all the spanish along with his grades and percentages, then I turned it over to see if the other side was in English, NOPE it's in Spanish.:rolleyes: We are not hispanic and when I signed the papers I checked off that we only speak Engrish.

What's up w/ Arizona?

email your district superintendent, report the problem, and request a copy in your primary language and have them deliver it today.

[Buffalo]

Hablo espanol. Como puedo ayudar?

[gdoane]

What's your defintion of useful?
I live in Chicago and a working knowledge of Spanish is very useful (sadly I don't have one).
I'm guessing that since you live in an area that's very close to Mexico, you probably run into a lot of Spanish speakers, is your knowledge of their language not useful?

I live and work with upper middle class people and speaking only Spanish creates a glass ceiling that I rarely go below and they rarely get above. The only way they can break their self-imposed glass ceiling is to learn English to have any upward mobility in the USA.

[Mimiheart]

What is up with that? He handed it to me, and I saw all the spanish along with his grades and percentages, then I turned it over to see if the other side was in English, NOPE it's in Spanish.:rolleyes: We are not hispanic and when I signed the papers I checked off that we only speak Engrish.

What's up w/ Arizona?I haven't gotten a progress report yet, but I didn't have a problem last year in Arizona. We're in the Paradise Valley school district. (Actually we're not in that district, I drive to put my kids in that district.)

[Mind the Gap]

Don't turn a mole hill into a conspiracy. You don't need to play the victim (since you are in the majority language group). Just ask for a report in English or ignore the Spanish parts of the report. But please don't complain about a school system trying to better communicate with parents.

[Mind the Gap]

You lost me when you said, "self-imposed glass ceiling." When did place of birth constitute a choice?

[SFC(R)L]

Don't turn a mole hill into a conspiracy. You don't need to play the victim (since you are in the majority language group). Just ask for a report in English or ignore the Spanish parts of the report. But please don't complain about a school system trying to better communicate with parents.

In a language not spoken?

[mysticbeauty_nbeast]

Don't turn a mole hill into a conspiracy.

The OP didn't turn a mole hill into a conspiracy....interesting you would read it as such in her comments though. :whistle:

You don't need to play the victim (since you are in the majority language group).

Again, the OP isn't 'playing' victim in her post. Very interesting that you would again, pull out a misnomer in order to make some odd point of opinion...and it is opinion on your part.

Just ask for a report in English or ignore the Spanish parts of the report. But please don't complain about a school system trying to better communicate with parents.

:rolleyes: The report/progress card is in all Spanish...there is no English. I'm sure she will request an English only card...and receive it. That's not the issue however. As a parent, she filled out all those beginning of year school permissions, advisory's and rules. On them she checked the box 'English Only Household'. She did her job...school dropped the ball on their end by sending a 'Spanish Only' progress report to an English Only speaking/reading household. :wall:

Complain about a school system trying to better communicate with parents? Are you kidding? If that was truly the goal of the educational system the OP child was in, then you would think they would make sure that she could understand the language they sent it to her in..right? They, the school, have now promoted a sense of non-communication by either fate or mistake. Either way...the school didn't meet it's goal of better communication...wouldn't you say?

Living in boarder sensitive states means everything you receive from the school comes in at least two languages...Spanish and English. In my school district we would receive all communications in at least five different languages...English, Spanish, Russian and a few forms of character type Asian languages. In this, every household understands in it's own language of preference what the school their child attends is trying to communicate. That's the goal right? Parent understanding and better communication? That's their job...communicating equally with their students parents....This school failed miserably at that attempt...either to save money..or mistake...take your pick.

~Mysty

[gdoane]

You lost me when you said, "self-imposed glass ceiling." When did place of birth constitute a choice?

Living in the USA is a choice. Living in the USA and without English skills is worse than being illiterate. A school pandering to Spanish only is actually pandering to functional illiteracy.

No government communications or services should be in any language other than English. Facilitating the illiteracy of a population does not help in the long run.

[Ruzzty]

Spanish may be the second largest language spoken in America now. What if..... 10% of Chinese moved here to acquire their unsettled loans?

1.3billion Chinese * .10 = 130 million

Chinas population = 1.3 Billion

US Population = 305 Million

US Spanish population = 45 million.

Wanna learn a new language? Try Chinese!

[pattyk]

Don't turn a mole hill into a conspiracy. You don't need to play the victim (since you are in the majority language group). Just ask for a report in English or ignore the Spanish parts of the report. But please don't complain about a school system trying to better communicate with parents.

the whole dam report was in spanish!!!!

oh yeah, sounds like this school system is really trying to better communicate with parents:D

[RogerDodger]

Living in the USA is a choice. Living in the USA and without English skills is worse than being illiterate. A school pandering to Spanish only is actually pandering to functional illiteracy.

No government communications or services should be in any language other than English. Facilitating the illiteracy of a population does not help in the long run.

I agree that speaking only Spanish can be a hinderance when living in America. However, I think the ability to speak both English and Spanish (or any other language) can only be considered an asset, especially in the job market.

[RogerDodger]

Are letter grades and number grades different in Spanish?

[sircharliebrown]

Don't turn a mole hill into a conspiracy. You don't need to play the victim (since you are in the majority language group). Just ask for a report in English or ignore the Spanish parts of the report. But please don't complain about a school system trying to better communicate with parents.

Where on earth did she imply this was a conspiracy??? :rolleyes:

[gdoane]

Are letter grades and number grades different in Spanish?

In Spanish there is a letter between C and D called "che" or ch. The letter D is actually the 5th letter of their alphabet.

[Rick Rhetoric]

What is up with that? He handed it to me, and I saw all the spanish along with his grades and percentages, then I turned it over to see if the other side was in English, NOPE it's in Spanish.:rolleyes: We are not hispanic and when I signed the papers I checked off that we only speak Engrish.

What's up w/ Arizona?

Are you a bigoted racist? You should learn to speak Spanish. And Obama says so too.

In only about 20 years, Spanish will be America's first language. Parents should encourage their children to get with the program and prepare for life in minority America.

Gracias.

[gdoane]

I agree that speaking only Spanish can be a hinderance when living in America. However, I think the ability to speak both English and Spanish (or any other language) can only be considered an asset, especially in the job market.

A better asset in the job market is a decent education and to get one, parental support is invaluable. When parents speak only Spanish, they're unable to read the simplest of children's textbooks and won't be capable of assisting their child with homework.

By Second Grade, an average child has a vocabulary of about 10,000 words. Adding about 5 words per day on average. By age 14, twice the age of a 7-year old 2nd grader, a Freshman entering High School should have a 20,000 word vocabulary.

Children of parents who speak no English learn about the same rate of vocabulary, but entering high school with the 10,000 word vocabulary of a second grader is a recipe for failure.

Parents not speaking English do their children a grave disservice which schools should not be enabling with reports in any language other than English.

[Dragon1963]

What is up with that? He handed it to me, and I saw all the spanish along with his grades and percentages, then I turned it over to see if the other side was in English, NOPE it's in Spanish.:rolleyes: We are not hispanic and when I signed the papers I checked off that we only speak Engrish.

What's up w/ Arizona?

Does your name sound or look like it might be hispanic? TUSD did that to my sister after she got married. Her last now looks and sounds hispanic. She went to the school and they change it to english. Since then everythings been in english. What had happened was someone in TUSD saw the name and automatically assumed she was hispanic because of the name.

[Dragon1963]

A better asset in the job market is a decent education and to get one, parental support is invaluable. When parents speak only Spanish, they're unable to read the simplest of children's textbooks and won't be capable of assisting their child with homework.

By Second Grade, an average child has a vocabulary of about 10,000 words. Adding about 5 words per day on average. By age 14, twice the age of a 7-year old 2nd grader, a Freshman entering High School should have a 20,000 word vocabulary.

Children of parents who speak no English learn about the same rate of vocabulary, but entering high school with the 10,000 word vocabulary of a second grader is a recipe for failure.

Parents not speaking English do their children a grave disservice which schools should not be enabling with reports in any language other than English.

In recent years it seems that I've met more Mexican tourists willing and able to speak english than hispanic Americans who speak english.

[angelicmadrigal]

What is up with that? He handed it to me, and I saw all the spanish along with his grades and percentages, then I turned it over to see if the other side was in English, NOPE it's in Spanish.:rolleyes: We are not hispanic and when I signed the papers I checked off that we only speak Engrish.

What's up w/ Arizona?

::blinks:: I'd complain to the school board, if thery are willing to accomodate the spanish speaking population, they also need to be willing to accomodate the english speaking population. I can see printing it in BOTH languages if you live in a district with a large Spanish speaking population, but only spanish is a little strange.


I actually have some experience where this is concerned as I have had several years teaching in a classroom with children (and parents) who's first language is not English. I am happy to make accomodations for those students and parents, but I only have 12 students this year, and only 1 non english speaking student so think this is one of those instances that show WHY small class sizes lead to better results, as you can take more time to engage both parents and children. For instance I take tiem every week to WRITE OUT what my non english speaking student has been working on because it's easier for his mother to follow and review with the father, than it is for her to try and remember what is said to her. It's not something that takes a lot of my time, and it benefits her and her child.

[Rankandfile]

My grandson has an Italian last name that many people mistake for Hispanic. When he started middle school this year, his classes included "English as a Second Language", among other things. When my daughter complained about it, she was told "he must have scored poorly on the XYZ test" so he was put in that class, and that was that. No matter he never took the XYZ test because English is not his second language, and got straight "A"'s in language arts in grammar school. So, now he's sitting in an English as a Second Language class for a semester. At least, he'll pick up a little Spanish.

[traditional_woman]

Ok, I have to eat humble pie now. They send them home seperately(two different days) one in spanish, the other in english. Disregard.

[angelicmadrigal]

Ok, I have to eat humble pie now. They send them home seperately(two different days) one in spanish, the other in english. Disregard.

That's a little inefficent though. I mean how hard is it keep track of which student requires an Spanish report and which students require an English one? I think it's kind of wasteful to send two to everyone.

[gdoane]

Ok, I have to eat humble pie now. They send them home seperately(two different days) one in spanish, the other in english. Disregard.

If the first one was in Spanish, then is the English one the translation?

[thr3]

Not a very usful skill unless you want a job with a payday loan joint.


Well if you ever have business in South America it may come in useful. Second, do you think Spanish Americans are always going to be in the ****ty jobs?

[gdoane]

Well if you ever have business in South America it may come in useful. Second, do you think Spanish Americans are always going to be in the ****ty jobs?

I'm not singling out Hispanics when I say that not speaking English in the USA is a self-imposed glass ceiling.

What kind of job do you think you're going to get when you can't interview in English? It's going to be a crappy job! It's going to be unskilled labor with nothing even remotely resembling a career ladder, a McJob that uses and discards workers like a Bic Lighter.

[gdoane]

I'm not singling out Hispanics when I say that not speaking English in the USA is a self-imposed glass ceiling.

What kind of job do you think you're going to get when you can't interview in English? It's going to be a crappy job! It's going to be unskilled labor with nothing even remotely resembling a career ladder, a McJob that uses and discards workers like a Bic Lighter.

P.S. The largest nation in South America is Brazil and they don't speak Spanish. They speak Portuguese.

[CaffeineHat]

Ok, I have to eat humble pie now. They send them home seperately(two different days) one in spanish, the other in english. Disregard.
I work in the Houston school district which has a large Hispanic and Vietnamese population. All documents go home at the same time, in whatever language the family has specified. It's all computer generated. It sounds like AZ needs to quit the clerical tomfoolery and actually figure out how to serve their population regardless of language or country of origin. My district actually has the ability to tailor to multiple languages (I just got a girl from Lithuania in my class who speaks NO English but she's learning as she goes) In order to make it easier for the parents I can see the validity of this, but the students are basically given 3 years to become proficient in English and then they are tested in English like everyone else.

[LouC]

Ok, I have to eat humble pie now. They send them home seperately(two different days) one in spanish, the other in english. Disregard.

But I thought you wanted it in Engrish?





:D

[mysticbeauty_nbeast]

Ok, I have to eat humble pie now. They send them home seperately(two different days) one in spanish, the other in english. Disregard.

I have to ask...can't help myself...in this age of burdened school budgets...why would the district not economize and simply send the correct language out in one mailing..instead of sending out two separate mailing in two different languages? Doesn't make much sense on the budget side of the equation does it? :neutral:

Glad you finally received a report card that you could read.

~Mysty

[gdoane]

I have to ask...can't help myself...in this age of burdened school budgets...why would the district not economize and simply send the correct language out in one mailing..instead of sending out two separate mailing in two different languages? Doesn't make much sense on the budget side of the equation does it? :neutral:

Glad you finally received a report card that you could read.

~Mysty

I don't think they were mailed at all, but rather sent home with the kids. After all, they have a direct line with a home that would put FedEx to shame. 8-hour delivery, kid by kid.

The mailings I do get from the local school district tick me off as a waste of money because I have never had children, I will never have children, and their scattergun mass mailings waste money on households without kids.

That's money from public education wasted on households which have nobody even remotely involved in public education. School systems shouldn't be spamming childfree homes. It's bad enough that they take my money for no value given, but it's even worse that they waste my money with a scattergun spam mass mailing.

[Mimiheart]

I don't think they were mailed at all, but rather sent home with the kids. After all, they have a direct line with a home that would put FedEx to shame. 8-hour delivery, kid by kid.

The mailings I do get from the local school district tick me off as a waste of money because I have never had children, I will never have children, and their scattergun mass mailings waste money on households without kids.

That's money from public education wasted on households which have nobody even remotely involved in public education. School systems shouldn't be spamming childfree homes. It's bad enough that they take my money for no value given, but it's even worse that they waste my money with a scattergun spam mass mailing.Depends on the grade. Elementary schools generally send home progress reports directly with the students. Middle school can go either way. High schools mail them. (I guess they figure an adult is more likely to collect the mail than the students are.) Also, with finals, the grades aren't complete until over either winter break or summer break in high school.

[Rankandfile]

Take your money for no value given? If you don't want to surround yourself with educated people because you don't want to pay for said education, try living in a country where no one knows how to read, no one knows how to fix anything, no one knows math, etc. As Ann Landers used to say "if you think education is expensive, try ignorance".

[gdoane]

Depends on the grade. Elementary schools generally send home progress reports directly with the students. Middle school can go either way. High schools mail them. (I guess they figure an adult is more likely to collect the mail than the students are.) Also, with finals, the grades aren't complete until over either winter break or summer break in high school.

When I went to school in Phoenix, AZ the teachers required positive feedback. A kid sent home with a report of any sort had to bring back said report with a parent's signature. Failure to do so would result in the teacher calling the parent directly and mentioning the irresponsibility of the kid who can't even return a note.

Schools doing business by mail bothers me. Even phoning it in is too impersonal. It's a symptom of just-don't-give-a-damn.

[Mimiheart]

When I went to school in Phoenix, AZ the teachers required positive feedback. A kid sent home with a report of any sort had to bring back said report with a parent's signature. Failure to do so would result in the teacher calling the parent directly and mentioning the irresponsibility of the kid who can't even return a note.

Schools doing business by mail bothers me. Even phoning it in is too impersonal. It's a symptom of just-don't-give-a-damn.
I was in the Scottsdale school district, and in high school, they mailed it. I'm pretty sure it had more to do with the class structure than anything else. If students have their last final on Thursday at 11:00, they aren't going to come in on Friday to pick up a report card so their parents can sign it. The school will mail it in. I don't remember if we needed them signed in high school -- I think it was only if they had a failing grade that there was a problem. In elementary school I have to sign the report card envelope. I get to keep the report card itself.

[thr3]

P.S. The largest nation in South America is Brazil and they don't speak Spanish. They speak Portuguese.

Yes indeed. But there is a massive potential market of Spanish speakers.

[Mimiheart]

Yes indeed. But there is a massive potential market of Spanish speakers.There's also a massive potential market of Mandarin Chinese speakers.