Now this is what I call a communication gap. Whenever Arnold Schwarzenegger tries to talk about Latinos and language, he winds up in agua caliente.
During an appearance last week before the annual conference of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, the governor of California suggested that one way to improve the dismal test results of students with limited proficiency in English was to “turn off the Spanish television set.”
The comments prompted gasps and groans from the crowd, which had a large contingent of journalists working for Spanish-language networks who – for the sake of their careers – would just as soon people not turn off Spanish television.
It brought to mind what happened last year during a campaign stop to Los Angeles' Chinatown when Schwarzenegger lectured Mexicans on how to succeed in this country. The secret, he said at the time, was “that you learn the language ... and (that) you have to become part of America.” He insisted “that is very difficult ... for Mexicans (who) ... try to stay Mexican but try to be in America.” His advice to Mexicans: “Go and immerse yourself, and assimilate into the American culture, and become part of the American fabric.”
I thought those comments were out of line and said so to Schwarzenegger during a meeting a few days later. In a tone that some would consider disrespectful, I explained to the governor that Hispanics have been in the Southwest for generations, that they have assimilated, and that they didn't need advice on doing so from “someone who got here yesterday.”
I also thought it was morally inconsistent for one to make such remarks while addressing an audience in an ethnic neighborhood, or maintaining a campaign Web site featuring material in Spanish, as Schwarzenegger was at the time.
And yet I feel differently about what the governor had to say last week about how students who want to learn English should start by switching off Spanish-language television. About that, he's absolutely right.
I don't care if I'm the only Hispanic in the country who thinks so, though I can assure you I'm not. I've heard others say the same thing over the years. In fact, I recently heard from a Hispanic woman who said that when she came to this country, she made beds in hotels, and that while working, she made a point of turning on the television and setting it to an English-language channel. That's how she began to learn English, she said.
What helped sell me was listening to the governor recall his immigrant experience. Schwarzenegger explained to the journalists that when he came to the United States from Austria, he rarely spoke German and that he learned English “through immersion and just really sitting in front of the television set,” even though at first he didn't understand a word being said. He also read English-language newspapers, he said, along with comic books and anything else he could get his hands on. It paid off. He learned English within a couple of years.
If only we could say the same for Latino kids who get stuck in bilingual education programs indefinitely – because it's good for the school and for administrators, even if it isn't good for the students.
These programs survive thanks to liberals, who quickly seized on Schwarzenegger's remarks and tried to exploit them as another reason to vote Democratic. A liberal reader accused the governor of “caving in to racist stereotypes” and patronizing Latinos.
Then there was the response from former state treasurer and failed 2006 Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides, who said the governor's remarks “displayed a troubling ignorance about our state's diversity and strength.” Part of that strength comes from immigrants who work hard and contribute enormously to California. The governor, Angelides said, “should give them a hand up, not a slap down.”
What in the world is he talking about? If you want to give people a hand up, you start by treating them as grown-ups, giving them lots of straight talk and expecting no less from them than you would from yourself.
That is exactly what Schwarzenegger did. The governor has it figured out. People will pick up English if they're immersed, and if they have no choice but to learn it. When we set up industries such as native language education or Spanish-language television, we create linguistic cocoons that offer the comfort of a warm bath when what English-learners really need is a cold shower.
Navarrette can be contacted at
ruben.navarrette@uniontrib.com.
