ETHNIC SCHOOLS PLUS PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Ethnicity in America has changed, but the change is not over yet. A friend was telling me everyone in the town in Minnesota he was born in spoke German. The radio broadcasts all in German and the newspapers printed in that language as well. The town, where I was born and was raised in Minnesota, was half-Polish/Eastern European and half-Swedish. The ethnic groups spoke their respective languages in their sections of town, but the people conducted all commerce in a mixture of the two languages and English as a last resort. In other words, business was the melting pot. My friend and I are well past the prime of life and see all the current political rhetoric about race and ethnicity being used by special interest groups, usually political, to divide people into isolated pockets or group, which is opposite of the way we grew up. America has turned from being a melting pot into a land of ethnic strife, which has also resulted in something else. Rather than gaining strength from our ethnicity we are using it to tear ourselves apart. Ethnic strife is getting out of hand. This entire debate creates unusual thoughts, some of which seem counter to one anther. For example, I strongly believe that traditions and customs give our country strength and provide a basis for pride in identity succeeding generations. I believe that various ethnic groups should have ethnic schools in the evening or on weekends to teach their children language, custom, holidays, food, and conglomerate of thing that contribute to their society of their parents. The schools should be interesting and sincere. The feelings of the parents are sometimes opposite. The parents come to America, for most of them; they come with great economic difficulty and want their families to assimilate into the “new” culture and country seamlessly. For those parents who fear their children will not learn English and America ways in public schools and from friends are wrong. Public schools are critical for many reasons including this one. I am a dual citizen of the U.S. and country of Belize where the children speak Mayan in the home. They speak Spanish and or Creole with their friends in the village or the schoolyard while attending classes taught in the official language of the country, which is English. Some immigrant parents object to ethnic schools because they want their past obliterated because of political persecution. As mentioned, I grew up in a neighborhood populated by people of Eastern European origin whose parent had never owned a house or property, or anything else but most important they had never cast a ballot. Of course, there is a big difference between culture and politics. I am advocating ethnic schools for they unique knowledge hence the power they have to teach ethnicity. However, it is the knowledge of what was wrong in their home countries that contribute strongly to their strength in their new country. Super patriotic, flag-waving right-wing people fear ethnic schools would be prone to teach their children to anti-Americanism. Also, if there is anything these immigrant parents would not teach in ethnic schools, above all else, it is government insurrection. URL: firetreepub.blogspot.com Comments Invited and not moderated