Anonymous wrote:

One glaring example, IMO, is that there is no expectation that immigrants who come here learn English. While English is not the “official” language of our country, I don’t think anyone can claim that it isn’t the primary language, and that if you want to get ahead in business or as a resident of our country, you need to learn English.
For our country to bend over backwards to translate material into 10 or more languages is really ridiculous. It comes at great expense for businesses, school systems, and our government.

Agreed but the market takes care of that. People get hung up on trees and ignore the forest. There is no data to conclude that children of immigrants do not know English. Can you post any link to your comment about school materials being translated into 10 OR MORE languages? It does make sense to translate immigration related materials to be translated into 10 or More languages to cater to NEW immigrants who may not know English.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Diversity can be a good thing.
What I get frustrated with is the expectation that we, as Americans, must honor the cultures of other countries when the immigrants come here, but there is little expectation that they honor the cultures and expectations of OUR country.
If you are going to go to another country to live (or even to visit), it would be prudent to learn the culture, the laws, and the expectations of that country and learn to accept them. You can still honor your heritage, but don’t expect the citizens of the other country to follow your customs.

Can you provide an example of this? There is a lot of expectation that immigrants honor and value the tenets of the American constitution...I think the challenge we face is for people who have been in this country for generations to accept that ultimately that is the primary commonality that brings Americans together. Even at the time of our founding, Georgia was culturally very different from Massachusetts.

One glaring example, IMO, is that there is no expectation that immigrants who come here learn English. While English is not the “official” language of our country, I don’t think anyone can claim that it isn’t the primary language, and that if you want to get ahead in business or as a resident of our country, you need to learn English.
For our country to bend over backwards to translate material into 10 or more languages is really ridiculous. It comes at great expense for businesses, school systems, and our government.

One glaring example, IMO, is that there is no expectation that immigrants who come here learn English. While English is not the “official” language of our country, I don’t think anyone can claim that it isn’t the primary language, and that if you want to get ahead in business or as a resident of our country, you need to learn English.
For our country to bend over backwards to translate material into 10 or more languages is really ridiculous. It comes at great expense for businesses, school systems, and our government.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a conservative who likes diversity. However, when you legislate social rules, you get pushback. I think too much is done now that encourages looking at people by the color of their skin rather than their character and talents. That is the problem. Like the achievement gap--there are two ways to close it: from the top or the bottom. Every child deserves the opportunity for a good education--but it starts at home. Universal preK is not going to make a difference if there is not support at home. Look at the studies about Head Start--the gains do not appear to last.

I taught for several years in a Title I school and I know that ALL kids are the same inside. But, when you encourage them to identify themselves by the color of their skin and blame others because of this, you are not helping them. Certainly, there are bigots and minorities have been mistreated. But, when you encourage kids to see themselves as victims, you are giving them three strike outs before they start.

Your point about Head Start is not accurate- here is a link describing issues with the study:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2013/03/05/does-head-start-work-for-kids-the-bottom-line/

I can't wait for some of the older blacks and whites to die off so we can move beyond the whole race issue

Anonymous wrote:I think where we get hung up is diversity is so much more than skin color and there are people on all sides of the political spectrum that benefit by just focusing on race and putting groups against each other

Thankfully the US really is becoming a melting pot. Multicultrual marriages are on the rise and something like upwards of 33% of asian and Latina women marry outside their own race.

I can't wait for some of the older blacks and whites to die off so we can move beyond the whole race issue

Anonymous wrote:What do you see as being the benefits of diversity and multiculturalism? Studies have repeatedly shown that as diversity increases, perceived life satisfaction, social trust/cohesion, and spending on public goods all decrease. So it's not obvious that diversity is conducive to human happiness or even that it furthers other liberal goals. America's increasing diversity doesn't seem to have made it a happier or more tolerant place. Ditto for Europe. And, of course, there are lots of places where different cultures/ethnicities/religions live side-by-side that have horrible histories of tribal conflict (Yugoslavia, Lebanon, etc.).

So, why is the discussion of this issue among educated people so one-sided? At the very least, it seems that diversity involves complex trade-offs and might be a good policy at some time and a bad policy at others.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Diversity can be a good thing.
What I get frustrated with is the expectation that we, as Americans, must honor the cultures of other countries when the immigrants come here, but there is little expectation that they honor the cultures and expectations of OUR country.
If you are going to go to another country to live (or even to visit), it would be prudent to learn the culture, the laws, and the expectations of that country and learn to accept them. You can still honor your heritage, but don’t expect the citizens of the other country to follow your customs.

Can you provide an example of this? There is a lot of expectation that immigrants honor and value the tenets of the American constitution...I think the challenge we face is for people who have been in this country for generations to accept that ultimately that is the primary commonality that brings Americans together. Even at the time of our founding, Georgia was culturally very different from Massachusetts.

Anonymous wrote:I am a conservative who likes diversity. However, when you legislate social rules, you get pushback. I think too much is done now that encourages looking at people by the color of their skin rather than their character and talents. That is the problem. Like the achievement gap--there are two ways to close it: from the top or the bottom. Every child deserves the opportunity for a good education--but it starts at home. Universal preK is not going to make a difference if there is not support at home. Look at the studies about Head Start--the gains do not appear to last.

I taught for several years in a Title I school and I know that ALL kids are the same inside. But, when you encourage them to identify themselves by the color of their skin and blame others because of this, you are not helping them. Certainly, there are bigots and minorities have been mistreated. But, when you encourage kids to see themselves as victims, you are giving them three strike outs before they start.

Anonymous wrote:Diversity can be a good thing.
What I get frustrated with is the expectation that we, as Americans, must honor the cultures of other countries when the immigrants come here, but there is little expectation that they honor the cultures and expectations of OUR country.
If you are going to go to another country to live (or even to visit), it would be prudent to learn the culture, the laws, and the expectations of that country and learn to accept them. You can still honor your heritage, but don’t expect the citizens of the other country to follow your customs.

Anonymous wrote:Diversity can be a good thing.
What I get frustrated with is the expectation that we, as Americans, must honor the cultures of other countries when the immigrants come here, but there is little expectation that they honor the cultures and expectations of OUR country.
If you are going to go to another country to live (or even to visit), it would be prudent to learn the culture, the laws, and the expectations of that country and learn to accept them. You can still honor your heritage, but don’t expect the citizens of the other country to follow your customs.