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Re: Conceptual Tests



The CHAOS come from trying to teach in the dozens (hundreds?) of languages
and dialects of immigrants. Once the state chooses to do this it MUST do so
for every individual student who is not a native English speaker. To avoid
this chaos, and that which also follows that ALL government documents must
be available in ALL languages, we really need to establish English as the
official national language. There are strong objections to this from some
political quarters (BC obviously being one) but it is the only thing that
makes sense to me.

Back to the Physics (briefly): To display understanding of the Physics
concepts, one must be able to express that understanding in words.
Therefore conceptual testing is, by its nature, wordy and must be based in a
given language. The question then returns to whether the English Speaking
majority population of this country has to foot the bill for supporting
multiple language instruction in it's PUBLIC schools. (Do what you want in
private schools.) Every one in the past who immigrated here and wanted to
fully participate in the political, economic, and social life of the country
ended up learning and using English, why should it be different now?

Let's also limit any demographic arguments only to _legal_ immigrants--at
least when considering the obligations of the taxpayers and the society.
What I, and others, object to is being 'forced' to change our current
society and culture to accommodate for these immigrations. It is supposed
to be the other way around. Certainly as the society as a whole assimilates
the Hispanic and Asian immigrants (assuming they are willing to be
assimilated--not clear this is the case) then there will be an evolution of
the society/culture that will incorporate more aspects of these cultures
into the current European dominated culture. However, such change should
not be shoved down our throats through regulation or media pressure (PC).

The bottom line here is that schools in the U.S. should NOT have to
apologize for teaching in English--whether it be Physics or any other
subject. If you or I should immigrate to Mexico, should we expect our
children to be taught in Spanish in the state schools?

Rick

[Who IS in favor of every non-English speaking student who enters public
education being given a one year, intensive program in English, then
returned to the normal school sequence. This then requires only competent
language instructors as opposed to competent
language/math/science/social-studies instructors who are bilingual in
Mandarin, Serbian, Cambodian, Spanish, Lithuanian, etc., etc.]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bernard Cleyet" <anngeorg@PACBELL.NET>
To: <PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu>



The question I have is: do you intend to test for Physics understanding
or
English comprehension. The evidence is overwhelming that teaching
subjects in
the primary language (and the secondary language in another class) is
considerable more efficient than teaching the second language and the
subjects
in that language. e.g. http://www.mcoe.org/instruct/ccnr/05.Vargas.pdf

Despite the passage of prop. 226 many majority minority districts teach
the
subject matter in the minority language, because the parents demand it.
Doing
otherwise would result in perpetual chaos.

bc who thinks Calif. prop. 226 is another example of Anglo racism and
their
failure to assiduously teach English to the minorities.
http://www.mcoe.org/instruct/ccnr/06.Bedwell.pdf

P.s. RT is a bit slow to notice demographic change:

"Many observers predict that the sharpest US debates over immigration
and
integration will shift in the 1990s from Western states such as California
and
southern states such as Florida to midwestern states such
as Nebraska, Iowa, and Minnesota. There are an increasing number of
conflicts between immigrants and natives in midwestern towns and cities,
some
of which have seen their Hispanic populations rise by 200 to
500 percent since 1990."
http://migration.ucdavis.edu/rmn/Archive_RMN/jul_1996-01rmn.html

and:
http://www.themilitant.com/2001/6502/index.shtml