Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In DC, dual language programs are a way of sorting schools by economic status without violating the law. It's how middle class families find one another and minimize the presence of at-risk kids.

Ick, right?

This is hilarious. Sure, let’s go dual language because everyone wants to avoid at risk kids. Of course that’s everyone’s top priority. It can’t be that it’s important to be bilingual in today’s diverse society and for all the reasons previous posters have stated. No, no way are those the reason.......

Anonymous wrote:I don’t really get it. I happened to grow up bilingual (English/Japanese) and I know the research in terms of benefits for the mind. However Spanish? It’s not even the language of business. It’s also not like the US majority will be dominant Spanish in this lifetime. Mandarin I can kinda see why since it can be very lucrative and it’s a tough language. Spanish I picked up in middle school-HS (started classes in 6th) but I am from CA and had plenty of friends to practice with. So I am trilingual.

Not a parent yet, but 21y/o teacher and my fiancé is already talking about this dual language business. Haha. I had no formal teaching in Japanese, yet I am fluent. Idk I’d rather go Montessori.

I also used to be a para at a school in DC w/dual language and the PK-K teachers were undoubtedly excellent....the rest pretty mediocre. Parents do not get to see the drama a school really has...I’ve seen this school mentioned and I always want to scream, waaaaiiiit. Perhaps my upbringing and experience at a school has caused me some bias lol.

Thoughts?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In DC, dual language programs are a way of sorting schools by economic status without violating the law. It's how middle class families find one another and minimize the presence of at-risk kids.

Ick, right?

This is hilarious. Sure, let’s go dual language because everyone wants to avoid at risk kids. Of course that’s everyone’s top priority. It can’t be that it’s important to be bilingual in today’s diverse society and for all the reasons previous posters have stated. No, no way are those the reason.......

It's virtue signalling for sure, and many old school DC (read black) families aren't interested in languages.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In DC, dual language programs are a way of sorting schools by economic status without violating the law. It's how middle class families find one another and minimize the presence of at-risk kids.

Ick, right?

This is hilarious. Sure, let’s go dual language because everyone wants to avoid at risk kids. Of course that’s everyone’s top priority. It can’t be that it’s important to be bilingual in today’s diverse society and for all the reasons previous posters have stated. No, no way are those the reason.......

Anonymous wrote:I see people are going to be stuck on Spanish.
For future readers of this post, there’s nothing wrong with Spanish! My school always uses me as the ‘Spanish Translator’ all the time, it’s very helpful with some parents.
It’s helpful in Spain too, which is one of my favorite countries in Europe. Mexico is also pretty great too, and the rest I have yet to venture to.

The point was will I get paid a lot more for knowing Spanish? No, even if I were to change my profession.
Some people really take things so personally. I’m seriously only wondering why DC parents literally go crazy for dual language!

Anonymous wrote:In DC, dual language programs are a way of sorting schools by economic status without violating the law. It's how middle class families find one another and minimize the presence of at-risk kids.

Ick, right?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP is 21. Years old.

Exactly, probably best to think of her like your child rather than admonish her.

These posts about languages needed in healthcare are pretty useless. yes, we know many languages are spoken ESPECIALLY IN SILVER SPRING.

Anonymous wrote:so aside from the ignorance of OP question on the importance of the Spanish language and practical use in the world- we are raising our daughter bilingually for several reasons-
1- as her brain is forming- learning 2 languages as once will benefit the way she thinks and learns in general
2- starting this even before preschool- our goal is for her to be bilingual and biliterate. We think this will open many opportunities for her both in the US and abroad
3- my husbands native language is Spanish. It’s important to me she not only learns and appreciates his culture and language- but feels just as comfortable communicating with his side of the family as she is with mine.

Even if 3 wasn’t the case- I understand why any parent would want to offer this to their child. And DC is actually ahead of the curve in this area of education.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am someone who learned Spanish via immersion and am hoping to do the same for my kids if we get a good lottery pull. I am not looking at this from an employment perspective. I naively thought that my Spanish fluency would help me get a job or earn more but in reality I use it close to never in my white collar career (management consulting and then healthcare administration). I’m sad that I don’t use it more but there are just very few white collar jobs where you’ll have the opportunity to use it. I did interview for a few global roles where I’d be traveling to South America but ultimately didn’t get them because these companies were looking for native speakers (which are plentiful, by the way). That being said, learning Spanish absolutely improved my English language skills, particularly my writing, which has been invaluable. I’m seeking language immersion for my kids because I personally believe it will help them overall in language arts and provide them a more well rounded education.

White collar jobs where Spanish fluency is very helpful:

Physician
PA
Nurse
Pharmacist
Physical Therapist
Occupational Therapist
Social Worker
Principal (in a school with a sizable Spanish speaking population. See: Every major city in the US)
Teacher (“ “)
Etc...

Anonymous wrote:I am someone who learned Spanish via immersion and am hoping to do the same for my kids if we get a good lottery pull. I am not looking at this from an employment perspective. I naively thought that my Spanish fluency would help me get a job or earn more but in reality I use it close to never in my white collar career (management consulting and then healthcare administration). I’m sad that I don’t use it more but there are just very few white collar jobs where you’ll have the opportunity to use it. I did interview for a few global roles where I’d be traveling to South America but ultimately didn’t get them because these companies were looking for native speakers (which are plentiful, by the way). That being said, learning Spanish absolutely improved my English language skills, particularly my writing, which has been invaluable. I’m seeking language immersion for my kids because I personally believe it will help them overall in language arts and provide them a more well rounded education.