God forbid an American kid know anything but good ol’ patriotic God-fearin’ English!
I particularly like the quote from the principal who says that “this isn’t the first time!” she’s told Zach to stop speaking Spanish at school.
SUSPENDED? FOR ALMOST TWO DAYS? FOR KNOWING TWO LANGUAGES?
We’re not in Kansas anym–oh wait. That’s right. We ARE.
Seems to me like the administration is missing out on a great opportunity to use this student’s fluency in peer teaching.
What a stupid, stupid rule.
The administrator should be assigned to a position far away from children and decision-making. Put her in charge of securing a light bulb for the overhead projector. That will keep her busy for a full year.
It was a stupid reason to suspend a kid, especially without a written policy and a good reason behind it. But I found the kid’s speech amusing, with the use of “like,” “totally” and “whatever.”
I can’t believe that what got him busted was “no problema,” That’s pretty much English at this point.
It is ironically amusing that this is occurring in the great state of Kansas.
I guess my sister should have been busted back when her friends had their “secret” language that consisted of sticking extra ‘ba’ sounds in words.
Noba problabema. Fubacking ibadiots.
He shoulda told them to fucko off.
I was under the impression that foreign language was a general requirement for all highschools. Does this school not have a foreign language program?
One of the joys of the Pit is how anything, no matter how stupid, will be defended by somebody here. My bet is Clothahump will be our brave knight in this thread.
Daniel
The administrator was probably worried that the kid was talking about evolution.
My daughter speaks Chinese in adition to English. Maybe I should get a lawyer on retainer now just in case she slips up and accidentally says shi-shi instead of thank you. Fucktards.
HA! Best line of the thread! 
Well, I’m not Clothahump, and I’m not really even defending this…it’s indefensible. I did, however, want to point out that this is an alternative HS in Kansas. I don’t know what ‘alternative’ means in this case, but the alternative high schools I used to teach in were little more than holding pens for the kids who had been kicked out of regular schools for behavior/drug/crime issues. Their unwritten rule against students conversing with one another in languages other than English was likely the reaction of an underdeveloped faculty without basic Spanish comprehension trying to keep the facility safe and drug-free.
Not an excuse, but a probable explanation.
I came in here to post much the same thing. It was a stupid, indefensible suspension, but Farmwoman’s absolutely right about why they likely had such an “unwritten” policy.
I (back in my delinquent days) went to an Alternative public high school, and it’s pretty much exactly the way she describes it. We only had about 200 kids in the entire school, and it still wasn’t out of the norm for a police car to be called to the school at least 3-4 times a week, almost always resulting in an arrest.
I’d bet good money that’s the exact reason for the policy. It was likely judged a good way to help keep trouble down within the school. It makes it harder for a teacher to figure out who’s about to cause an issue in the classroom if she can’t understand what they’re saying.
Interestingly enough though., my husband works in a prison and they are not even allowed to forbid inmates from speaking other languages, especially ones like Spanish. Cypher and other things like that are forbidden, but it would be absurd to say they could not speak in a native tongue. It would be like admitting, “well, we are too uneducated and untrained to understand you, so you can’t do it”.
Well…yeah, that’s why this is ridiculous and indefensible. Being stupid and indefensible doesn’t stop it from being a reason for the unwritten policy, though.
I’m just waiting for a British poster to show up and tell us that the correct English would be foreign to most of us
The pricipal was wrong. To the overall school system’s credit, the whole thing was rescinded right away.
You are probably right in your reasoning. Time for those teachers to pick up basic Spanish when they return to school for professional development and certification renewal. (Hey, I was a teacher; this is a fair suggestion.)
Xie xie (pronounced shyay shyay). I think shi shi means poop.
Absolutely, old boy! When I see what you chaps have done to the language of Shakespeare…I also assume, as this is a school in Kansas, that I can’t say the English language has evolved :eek:
By the way I’m English, not British. 
And from the original article:
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) made that point this summer when he vetoed a bill authorizing various academic subjects to be tested in Spanish in the state’s public schools. “As an immigrant,” the Austrian-born governor said, “I know the importance of mastering English as quickly and as comprehensively as possible.”
When is he going to lose his Austrian accent then? 