(NAME-MCE) "The language of living in a ghetto" - Newt Gingrich

[Anselmo Villanueva]

March 31, 2007

Abolish bilingual education, Gingrich urges

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/03/31/gingrich.bilingual.ap/index.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich equated
bilingual education Saturday with "the language of living in a ghetto"
and mocked requirements that ballots be printed in multiple languages.

"The government should quit mandating that various documents be
printed in any one of 700 languages depending on who randomly shows
up" to vote, said Gingrich, who is considering seeking the Republican
presidential nomination in 2008. He made the comments in a speech to
the National Federation of Republican Women.

"The American people believe English should be the official language
of the government. ... We should replace bilingual education with
immersion in English so people learn the common language of the
country and they learn the language of prosperity, not the language of
living in a ghetto," Gingrich said to cheers from the crowd of more
than 100.

"Citizenship requires passing a test on American history in English.
If that's true, then we do not have to create ballots in any language
except English," he said.

Peter Zamora, co-chair of the Washington-based Hispanic Education
Coalition, which supports bilingual education, said, "The tone of his
comments were very hateful. Spanish is spoken by many individuals who
do not live in the ghetto."

He said research has shown "that bilingual education is the best
method of teaching English to non-English speakers."

Spanish-speakers, Zamora said, know they need to learn English.

"There's no resistance to learning English, really, among immigrants,
among native-born citizens," he said. "Everyone wants to learn English
because it's what you need to thrive in this country."

In the past, Gingrich has supported making English the nation's
official language. He's also said all American children should learn
English and that other languages should be secondary in schools.

In 1995, for example, he said bilingualism poses "long-term dangers to
the fabric of our nation" and that "allowing bilingualism to continue
to grow is very dangerous."

Bilingual programs teach students reading, arithmetic and other basic
skills in their native language so they do not fall behind while
mastering English.

On voting, federal law requires districts with large populations of
non-English speakers to print ballots in multiple languages.