Jun 12, 2012
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A California school district is defending its decision to allow a valedictorian to deliver his graduation speech entirely in Spanish even though many people in the audience only spoke English and felt excluded from the ceremony.
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Jessie Ceja, the principal at Orestimba High School in Newman, Calif., said the valedictorian had earned the right to deliver the speech any way he saw fit.
“The student earned the right as valedictorian, I feel, and if he felt that way I decided to give him that opportunity,” Ceja told Mattos Newspapers.
The student, Saul Tello, Jr. said he wanted to deliver a Spanish and English language version of his speech – but the district said there was only time to deliver one.
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He told the local newspaper he had no intention of making a social statement by delivering his speech in Spanish. He said he did so to honor his parents.
Prior to his speech, Tello apologized in English to the non-Spanish speakers attending the graduation ceremony.
However, that decision resulted in telephone calls to the school – and concern among some school trustees – who believed at least some of the speech should have been delivered in English.
“I think that there has to be some acknowledgement that English is the official language of the state, that you have to be proficient in English to graduate an that a sizable portion of the audience does not speak Spanish,” trustee Tim Bazar told the newspaper.
Local residents were also disturbed by the speech and some called for the school board to address the matter.
“I don’t blame the student for this; however, the administration should have stopped it way before graduation night,” wrote Bill Mattos in a column for the newspaper. “If you want to provide folks who only speak Spanish better information, then provide the speech in Spanish with handouts, or have the students include some Spanish in a mostly English speech. But the entire speech should have never been given in only Spanish.”
Mattos said English is the first language of the nation “and in my opinion there was no place for this sort of change, especially in Newman.”
Another local resident noted, “Thinking of all the money spent teaching students how to speak, read and write English only to have a valedictorian speak to his classmates and families in Spanish seems a mighty big waste of money.”
School superintendent Ed Felt defended the student’s speech and the principal’s decision.
“We are a community with two dominant languages, and both should be recognized,” Felt told the newspaper.
He said the school did not have a right to order the student to deliver his speech in English – citing First Amendment concerns.
“We could request a student deliver a speech in English, but we would have little to enforce that if the student chose not to,” he said.
Principal Ceja said the speech was a perfect way to cater to English and Spanish speakers, noting that the welcome was delivered in both languages – and the salutatorian address was delivered by an English-speaking student.
Tello told the newspaper that he was upset by the controversy his speech received, calling critics “close-minded.”
One letter-writer noted: “I do not believe the OHS student intended to be divisive, but certainly his decision to deliver the speech in Spanish, excluding non-Hispanic attendees from the joy of listening to the top student, created a division.”
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If you really want to honor your parents and all they have done for you bringing you to this wonderful country, teach them some english. Not to be cruel but read your parents your speech at home the night before in spanish, then in english for your class, after all, the speech should be for your class. Have a bi-lingual family member translate your speech for your parents as you read it to your class. So many other things could have been done. Administration messed up big time.
He should have cut the length of his address so he could have spoken to the WHOLE audience, not just the Spanish speaking members.
Wow. I agree that the student should have given his speech in English. If the school district wanted to honor the student's wishes, they should have cut his speech time in half and let him speak in both languages. Even that would lead to a slippery slope where a myriad of languages will be spoken at graduations. What I have a problem with are the people on here that immediately assume that responses to postings by people with Spanish surnames should end with statements like "go back to Mexico". It gets old that the whole "English" only argument seems to boil down to somebody throwing down the racial gauntlet while hiding behind a patriotic facade. Please don't soil MY flag with your idiotic statements. For the record, my flag flies at the White House.
his says it all.
"In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the man's becoming in very fact an American, and nothing but an American…There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag, and this excludes the red flag, which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization, just as much as it excludes any foreign flag of a nation to which we are hostile…We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language…and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."
Theodore Roosevelt 1907.
I have to wonder if this is the same school district that suspended some boys for wearing clothing to school that depicted the US flag on 'Cinco de Mayo'.
Whether he intended to or not, this student belittled his classmates by not addressing them in English. I certainly know I would be insulted.
Now, how does someone manage to live in this country legally without learning enough English to understand what their own son is saying? The objection is probably not so much to the Spanish, but to the fact that the parents and others have not bothered to learn English and that they haven't bothered because they're likely here illegally. It's also quite likely that the Spanish-speakers have had the educations of their children subsidized by those English-speaking taxpayers, yet are insulted by having this young man's speech delivered in a language they don't and shouldn't have to understand.
You people really need to get a grip. If it had been given in French everyone would have been oohing and ahhing and espousing what a wonderful thing it was but since it was in that devil language Spanish (which is essentially the same language as French) people have a stick up their butt about it.
Is not a foreign language a pre-requisite for graduation? Do you not need two years of a foreign language to earn your diploma? It was when I was in school so we want you to study a language for two years before you can graduate but upon graduation we don't want you to be able to use it.
He was the VALIDICTORIAN over all the native-born-English speakers in his school. Are you sure this isn't what you're really pissed off about? That some damn Latino outdid all your precious alabaster skinned progeny and he did it two languages.
You should be proud and supportive of this kid. You should be happy that he is not another gang-banger but… there is no pleasing some people. Unhappy with gang-bangers, unhappy with Valedictorians.
If the speech had been given in English with Spanish handouts these same people who are bitching now would be bitching about, "Why do we have to have Spanish handouts?"
F… people. Consider this: Both Spanish and English are imported languages. They are from Europe and do not belong here.
Yesterday at a nature conservancy there was a cry of help to eradicate invasive species. An invasive species is an organism that once having entered an ecosystem is very destructive to the native species and surplants it at an alarming rate.
White people are the most invasive species in the history of the planet. They should write about themselves in addition to the plants, bugs, and vermin.
Old joke:
Q: What do you call someone who speaks two languages?
A: Bi-lingual.
Q: What do you call someone who only speaks one language?
A: American.
The difference between the wretched refuse and the existing Latino population in the U.S. is that the Latino population does not want to sacrifice their language. They do not want to become monolingual. They want to retain their Spanish language and they should.
A question for all those belching brimstone out there: Do you not wish you could speak the language of the old country? Hmmmm.. Scottish, Welsh, Finnish, French, Italian, Greek, Gaelic, German… too bad you let it go.
You should have held onto it. Your bad.
Are you fucking retarded? My people held on to theirs you fucking ass ape. Very commonly heard at pow wows throughout Oklahoma so get FUCKED! Also you miscreant, "Scottish" is not a language. Gaelic is and even then, unless the immigrant was in the Highlands, it would not be spoken. You fucking moron! Keep feeding your precious ego on how great the latino culture is when you are just as fucking guilty in misplacing Indians of OUR land you fucking idiot. You mother fuckers bitch about "California being ours" FUCK YOU! The land belonged to Indians first so the latino community can get fucked with all their whining.
Freaking foreign invasion, brought to you by the Democratic Party traitors. Anybody who votes for these traitors is a traitor also.
Ok I just heard about this from old classmates. I went to school at Orestimba. There is a decent sized hispanic population. So it was given in Spanish. BIG DEAL! No one really listens to the speeches at a graduation anyway, or if they do, don't really remember wtf is was about anyway. All those kids just wanted to get up and get their diploma and celebrate.
Ok I just heard about this from old classmates. I went to school at Orestimba. There is a decent sized hispanic population. So it was given in Spanish. BIG DEAL! No one really listens to the speeches at a graduation anyway, or if they do, don't really remember wtf is was about anyway. All those kids just wanted to get up and get their diploma and celebrate.
half of u people didn't even go to the graduation so just drop it.
shut up okay he didn't want attention he just wanted to honor his parents.
u people are sick and should be ashamed of yourselves you guys made this a big deal because there was.
a welcome in English and one in Spanish. there was also a speech in English. how about that huh? how about all the the Spanish speakers that didn't understand that huh? Sure that's not a big deal, then all of a sudden he says his speech in Spanish and all the non-Spanish speakers get offended. like that's fair.
Look, the kid certainly has the right to give his address in spanish. Was it a good decision? Probably not. I do agree that it should have been in english. He did however earn the that right. I mean he was valedictorian for crying out loud. He busted his ass in school to get where he is now and earned the right. I understand his reasons, "wanted to honor his parents" but there are other ways to honor them outside of addressing his classmates and guests in spanish. To me, that's the only thing here that's debateable. Let's not turn this into something it's not.
por supuesto más gente entiende su discurso que no.
you know only the white people get upset when something like this happens. they get "offended" because they dont understand what is being said. then think it is "rude". white people never stop to think how other people feel when all they talk is english and other people cant understand them.
i commend this young man
Commend him for what? Being a complete fuckwit? The kid did what he did to piss people off and push the envelope. As a Choctaw Indian, would I use Choctaw during a speech when others may not understand? No. I would wait and give a separate speech to family in friends in Choctaw. The kid should be reprimanded for that crap (or possibly beaten)
Normally I don't comment on these types of things but I felt the need to throw some facts out there for my fellow Americans. Even though fox news blows things way out of proportion anyway, cause of its republican standing, but that's just my view anyway.
Onto my point, only 25 % of the worlds total population speaks/reads/writes English. So now, if u think there is 6 or 7 billion(yes people with a b), in the world. Next we break that # down to just America, say 2 ~ 3 billion. So we are looking at almost half the US or more speaks/reads/writes English. Why would it so far fetched for a student to give a speech in a different language? And my god people its just a speech, not like he had the Mexican flag strung up and mariachis(sp?) playing in the background singing there national anthem, it was just honoring his parents.
If this speech was given in any other language I.E….. German/Dutch/French or anything along that manor people wouldn't give it a second thought. We generate hatred for no reason, other then to make something out of it(I.E. a simple speech) to now a national story. I know I will probably get some bad comments on this post, but that's fine, and maybe a few people will actually see it differently.
Granted there could of been a pamphlet with a Spanish to English translation, but that might of not been planed. Also to point out this young man probably knows English and Spanish fully, now saying this there are probably people here who know more then 2 or 3 languages who have commented below. I'm not going to google this but someone else is welcome to but I am pretty sure most Cali. Schools are in the top 1000 schools in the U.S.. He busted his ass in school and graduated, which is more then what some people can say, and not riding on a GED. He earned the right to give the speech, so I say let the boy be.
Normally I don't comment on these types of things but I felt the need to throw some facts out there for my fellow Americans. Even though fox news blows things way out of proportion anyway, cause of its republican standing, but that's just my view anyway.
Onto my point, only 25 % of the worlds total population speaks/reads/writes English. So now, if u think there is 6 or 7 billion(yes people with a b), in the world. Next we break that # down to just America, say 2 ~ 3 billion. So we are looking at almost half the US or more speaks/reads/writes English. Why would it so far fetched for a student to give a speech in a different language? And my god people its just a speech, not like he had the Mexican flag strung up and mariachis(sp?) playing in the background singing there national anthem, it was just honoring his parents.
If this speech was given in any other language I.E….. German/Dutch/French or anything along that manor people wouldn't give it a second thought. We generate hatred for no reason, other then to make something out of it(I.E. a simple speech) to now a national story. I know I will probably get some bad comments on this post, but that's fine, and maybe a few people will actually see it differently.
Granted there could of been a pamphlet with a Spanish to English translation, but that might of not been planed. Also to point out this young man probably knows English and Spanish fully, now saying this there are probably people here who know more then 2 or 3 languages who have commented below. I'm not going to google this but someone else is welcome to but I am pretty sure most Cali. Schools are in the top 1000 schools in the U.S.. He busted his ass in school and graduated, which is more then what some people can say, and not riding on a GED. He earned the right to give the speech, so I say let the boy be.
I feel the speech should have been in both English and Spanish. The school board should have made sure the boy could have given the speech for his parents(other Spanish speakers) and as well in English. I do think it was unfair for the others in the crowd to have to listen if they could not understand. The boy obviously had something good to say, if I where there I would have liked to know what he was saying.
Only in California…and people wonder why there is so much hostility towards the immigration issue. Is it me or does it always seem those who have immigrated legally want to assimilate and become AMERICANS while those who are illegal care nothing for our country besides the benefits they receive.
I do not understand why people want to move here and change it to the place they left.