Tancredo opposes kindergarteners learning English (CO-06)

In April of 2005, Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo introduced a Constitutional Amendment that would have declared English the official language of the United States. HJ Res. 43 stated that "As the official language, the English language shall be used for all public acts including every order, resolution, vote, and election, and for all records and judicial proceedings of the Government of the United States and the governments of the several States."

Perhaps it's schizophrenia or a mild form of dementia that has led Tancredo to now reverse his previous stand on bilingualism after spending years decrying what he called the "balkanizing and 'bilingualizing' America." Apparently Mad Tom now sees no need for Spanish speaking children to learn what he would make the official language of the nation.


tags: immigration, Tom Tancredo , English Only , CO-6, ESL

Colorado schools have long offered in-class and after-school programs for children with various special needs, one being English as a Second Language (ESL) classes for those unable to speak English.

Recently Tancredo put out a press release stating that he had sent a letter to Colorado State Board of Education Commissioner William J. Moloney "questioning the school districts choice to offer all day education to Elementary Spanish speaking students while offering only a half day to English speakers."

Using the kind of convoluted logic he has become famous for, Tancredo went on to say:

“Parents of English-speaking students have been told they are not eligible for all-day kindergarten because their children do not need the English-language instruction provided to Spanish-language students,” said Tancredo, Chairman of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus. “I want to know if such programs are legal under federal and state non-discrimination laws. Can children be denied an equal education just because their native language is English?”
Tancredo.house.gov

It would probably be safe to assume that Mr. Tancredo has not actually set foot in a school in years given the nature of his statement. If he had, he would have seen numerous examples of the kind of "discrimination" he's complaining of. Students with all sorts of physical and learning disabilities are routinely given "special education" not afforded other students. These programs vary from personal tutors for the learning disabled to speech therapy for children with impediments. Likewise, those who are gifted take part in programs that provide extra challenges and opportunities not available to all students. All these programs are based upon the needs of the individual child and what best serves their educational development.

The Douglas County School District (DCSD) stated that, "We base our decisions as a district on the needs of our students." The DCSD statement continued, "This program is added on to the typical kindergarten school day," describing the program as "no different from other programs our district offers to provide early intervention to students with unique needs."…

According to the Board of Education, the English as a Second Language (ESL) and related programs exist for forty-five different languages as well as sign-language. In Douglas County alone, the programs serve the needs of over 1,000 students at more than fifty schools from kindergarten through high school.
link

Perhaps just to make things "fair" for Mr. Tancredo, the schools could offer after-school programs to teach Spanish to those students who are linguistically challenged and speak only English. But somehow I don't think that's what Tom had in mind.

Obviously Mr. Tancredo isn't fazed by the fact that many of the five year olds to whom he would deny ESL classes, are US citizens born in this country.

One can only wonder how the majority of Mr. Tancredo's followers feel about the idea of a new generation of children being left behind by the educational system, simply to appease his political ambition. Given the ignorance and stupidity we've seen from Tancredo, it's obvious he holds little value for education or learning, hopefully his small-mindedness is not indicative of the majority.