The Ugly Americans

Meet the patron saint of "Speak English or Die," John Derbyshire:

A nearby family has a sweet little girl aged 6 or 7, currently attending kindergarten or 1st grade (I'm not sure) in the local elementary school. She's taking all her lessons (except English) in Spanish. It's an option the school offers. Her parents are pleased: "She can already speak a lot of Spanish!"

No offense to anyone, but I think this is awful. I wouldn't mind if it were being done with some other language—Latin, say, or Hungarian, or Sumerian, or Chinese. Since it's being done — and ONLY being done — in Spanish, it's hard to resist the conclusion that this is part of a deliberate program of Hispanicization on the part of our political and bureaucratic elites.

I took French starting in first grade and have retained a shocking amount despite the fact that I never practice it. Study after study shows that it becomes harder to learn a new language with each passing year.

These are the guys that tell us about the global economy and how "the world is flat," and they can't even manage to pronounce "Hola" correctly. I look forward to Derbyshire's kids staying in the suburbs and going to Chi-Chis for some diversity while those parents who understand which way the world's going end up wealthier and more successful.

(hat tip TBogg, whose response to this is very smart and ends by calling the Derb a pendejo, which is even better considering the Derb won't get it.)