Quick question: if you attended a high school graduation and the valedictorian gave one sentence of her speech in a foreign language (and then translated it into English), would you:
a) Be impressed that she is multilingual
b) Be touched that she is communicating in her parents' tongue
c) Call for a policy that would require all commencement speeches to be in English.
(Shakes head and looks at shoes.)
Ohfergawdssakes! I did just attend a high school graduation (R's, my youngest). And the foreign exchange students did speak in their own languages, in part. Charming, it was - and a reminder to those of us who speak only American English that there are a lot of other languages out there. I would hope that these valedoctorians would be supported, as immigrants who are achieving AND demonstrating good family values. Sheesh.
ReplyDeleteoops - valedictorians, I meant. I never was one...
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