"Civilization is a method of living, an attitude of equal respect for all men." ~ Jane Addams
When I moved here, I had to enroll my son in school. We live in an area that is mostly white, but there are many black students in his school, and a few Hispanic and other minority students.
When we filled out the paperwork for his school we also received a packet of papers describing the school, it's district, and the various programs the school offered. Included in this packet was a form to fill out, if we considered ourselves qualified, for reduced price or free meals for the student.
This is not unusual, in fact, I have never seen a school that didn't offer this program, and I think it is a very good program for underprivileged students.
What made this particular form jump out at me is this:
It was printed completely in Spanish.
All of it. Not part of it. All of it. It wasn't printed in English with Spanish subtitles, or printed in Spanish with English subtitles. It was all Spanish.
All Spanish.
I'm not kidding. I know just enough Spanish to recognise what the document was. I wondered, breifly, if there were any parents who received the same form that didn't understand a word of it. Then I realized it was probably included in our packet by mistake.
Actually, I am more amused than outraged at this political correctness gone overboard. It was, after all, just an administrative mistake. I take it for what it is.
But doesn't it say something about our new all-inclusive society nonetheless?
Lately I have been decrying Government overkill and political correctness run amok. The efforts to make the playing field equal in this country have swung too far the other direction.
I think the only way to defeat discrimination is to let people sort out their problems on their own, through ordinary interaction with people of all races, and get the Government out of it. All the Government does is make things worse.
Remember how the Irish were treated in the 19th century in this country? They were discriminated against, and the Government did nothing to alleviate their situation. Yet somehow, the Irish are now accepted as typical white Americans. How did we learn to accept them without Government intervention?
We did it by using good old American common sense.
Perhaps we should try that approach again.
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5 comments:
Mark, great post!
Wrath, gawd!
I've never been able to figure out how the Spanish got a free pass. The Conquistadors were white. They invaded the Americas. They slaughtered entire cultures, enslaved Indians, and imposed their culture on others to a far greater extent than did the Europeans in North America. Our motivation for coming to the West was to seek freedom. Their motiviation was to seek gold and other riches.
Yet, the people of Latin America don't seem to resent their mixed blood, they hold no grudges against Spain and they STILL oppress the few minority Indian tribes that still exist.
And when they attempt to illegally enter this country, they call US racist for trying to stop them?
Thanks to Ted Kennedy's 1964 immigration bill that favored the unskilled and uneducated over those who could contribute the most to this country and to leftists' general one-world mindset, this country has turned from being a melting pot to a litter box.
Mark, where the heck did you move to? (Unless you would wrather not say) I thought you were in Maryland.
I would have complained and demanded a form in English!
This whole thing is getting totally out of hand.
Marie, I moved to Fredericksburg, Virginia, about 50 miles south of Washington DC. It is in my profile info.
I didn't complain about the form, but I did tell the school about it, since I am not getting free or reduced meals for my son anyway.
I refuse to add my name to the lists of welfare cheats. If I can afford to pay for my son's meals, I won't take handouts.
Great comment, wrath. How thoughtful.
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