Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Just to be clear
I don't want my post from Friday to be construed as being anti-immigration. Just the opposite, I am thrilled that the people who are brave enough to leave the country they were born in and choose to come to the U.S. My great-grandparents did it, my wife's grandparents did it. Here's the big difference. They did it legally and made a conscious effort to do everything they could to make sure they were successful in their new home. This included learning and using English. Yes, my great grandparents still spoke Yiddish in the home (usually when they wanted to curse or didn't want us kinder to know what they were saying), but when they went out in public it was always English.
What I'm saying is that immigrating to the US is not a right, it's a privilege, we shouldn't have to change to make it easier on you to come here. You should be willing to change to take full advantage of the opportunities that America offers.
What I'm saying is that immigrating to the US is not a right, it's a privilege, we shouldn't have to change to make it easier on you to come here. You should be willing to change to take full advantage of the opportunities that America offers.
it's so quiet....
Well, yesterday was the first day of school, no wife, no kids, only the cat in the house. It was so quiet... almost distractingly quiet. But it's nice to have that time alone. Not having to worry if Alex or Ethan are going to come barging into my office wanting something in the middle of a call with a VP.
Did I mention it's been hot. I don't mean typical Georgia hot, I mean it hasn't rained in almost 2 weeks, feels like 110 degrees, can't even go outside for more than a few minutes HOT. I wonder sometimes why I moved down here, then I remember the last winter I spent up north. -20 degrees as a high, wind chills of -40 and lower. So cold that it takes an hour for your bones to defrost, so cold that cars just don't start. COLD.. and then I remember why I moved
Did I mention it's been hot. I don't mean typical Georgia hot, I mean it hasn't rained in almost 2 weeks, feels like 110 degrees, can't even go outside for more than a few minutes HOT. I wonder sometimes why I moved down here, then I remember the last winter I spent up north. -20 degrees as a high, wind chills of -40 and lower. So cold that it takes an hour for your bones to defrost, so cold that cars just don't start. COLD.. and then I remember why I moved
Friday, August 10, 2007
Um, can you repeat that in english for me please....
हे लुक, ई कैन ब्लोग इन हिंदी।
No, it's not a secret code... it's a very strange option on Blogger that allows you to write in Hindi. This would be very helpful if I were blogging to my colleagues in India. It says... "Hey look, I can blog in Hindi !"
Which brings me to another topic that's been bothering me lately. My son's school sends a lot of the information that comes home to parents in English and Spanish. Now I have a problem with this. First, the school is spending money to pay for a translator (yes, there's a FULL TIME Spanish translator on staff at my son's elementary school) , to print things on 2 sides of a sheet, and then there's the whole pain of having to look to see which side of the page I can understand.
This is money that the school could be using to pay for the supplies the teachers need to run their classroom, so that I don't have to buy things like markers, paper, Kleenex, hand sanitizer, and the like.
Why do the schools, that are expected to prepare our students for the future, make it easier on the parents to not have to learn the English language?
My family came from Eastern Europe and had to learn English. My wife's family came from Finland and had to learn English, why are we making it easier for people to continue to function without learning English? There are grade school aged kids other countries that are learning English as a second language, yet we coddle people in the largest English speaking country in the world so that they don't have to learn.
What happens is the parents make no effort to learn English , because there's no need to, and they continue to speak Spanish in the house, making it more difficult for their children to learn English. A vicious cycle.
No, it's not a secret code... it's a very strange option on Blogger that allows you to write in Hindi. This would be very helpful if I were blogging to my colleagues in India. It says... "Hey look, I can blog in Hindi !"
Which brings me to another topic that's been bothering me lately. My son's school sends a lot of the information that comes home to parents in English and Spanish. Now I have a problem with this. First, the school is spending money to pay for a translator (yes, there's a FULL TIME Spanish translator on staff at my son's elementary school) , to print things on 2 sides of a sheet, and then there's the whole pain of having to look to see which side of the page I can understand.
This is money that the school could be using to pay for the supplies the teachers need to run their classroom, so that I don't have to buy things like markers, paper, Kleenex, hand sanitizer, and the like.
Why do the schools, that are expected to prepare our students for the future, make it easier on the parents to not have to learn the English language?
My family came from Eastern Europe and had to learn English. My wife's family came from Finland and had to learn English, why are we making it easier for people to continue to function without learning English? There are grade school aged kids other countries that are learning English as a second language, yet we coddle people in the largest English speaking country in the world so that they don't have to learn.
What happens is the parents make no effort to learn English , because there's no need to, and they continue to speak Spanish in the house, making it more difficult for their children to learn English. A vicious cycle.
Well, here we go...
So, here I sit on a long, boring, conference call again. I'm listening to someone from across the world tell me how well his project is going. It's going well, if anyone cares.
Alex starts school on Monday, yes, on August 13th when we expect the temperatures to reach a sweltering 100 degrees. Makes you wonder who in the hell makes the decision to send kids back to school before labor day. Come on folks.. 3 weeks of school in August. Yeah, it's nice that they get out in may, but I would rather have them going in June than have the schools paying to air condition the rooms. But that's just me.
Ethan is back at pre-school as of Monday. He was very excited to see his friends and probably play with someone other than Alex. He's so funny, before he leaves each day he goes into Alex's room and kisses him goodbye.
Should be an interesting weekend. The weather is calling for highs in the high 90's to low 100's, with code red air quality. So playing outside is out of the question. But I have to get the kids out of the house or it will be a torturous weekend.
The videos on the blog are of my baby sister's new baby. Logan Hosmer. Call it a Uncle being proud, but damn I have cute nieces and nephews, and sons too.
Well, that's all for now.. more later.
Alex starts school on Monday, yes, on August 13th when we expect the temperatures to reach a sweltering 100 degrees. Makes you wonder who in the hell makes the decision to send kids back to school before labor day. Come on folks.. 3 weeks of school in August. Yeah, it's nice that they get out in may, but I would rather have them going in June than have the schools paying to air condition the rooms. But that's just me.
Ethan is back at pre-school as of Monday. He was very excited to see his friends and probably play with someone other than Alex. He's so funny, before he leaves each day he goes into Alex's room and kisses him goodbye.
Should be an interesting weekend. The weather is calling for highs in the high 90's to low 100's, with code red air quality. So playing outside is out of the question. But I have to get the kids out of the house or it will be a torturous weekend.
The videos on the blog are of my baby sister's new baby. Logan Hosmer. Call it a Uncle being proud, but damn I have cute nieces and nephews, and sons too.
Well, that's all for now.. more later.
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