This is the USA and I would only hope that English is the ONLY learning language permitted until students are in high school and independently select a foreign language in their curriculum(s). This is preposterous and getting out of hand. If immigrants come here legally, like most of our families did, then they should be able to converse, learn and understand English! No more excuses, stop the excuses, and either do it all American or find another homestead.

Frankly, I'm disgusted with all this emphasis on Spanish. Since this is the United States, the Spanish speaking immigrants-legal and illegal should learn English. Many people would choose to learn a language other than Spanish. The Catholic Church keeps giving me reasons to reduce my contributions. I soon will be at zero dollars and zero cents.

Just when I though the Diocese had hit bottom they have managed to dig deeper.

You all sound very ignorant. This is not a public school forcing students to learn another language. One must choose (and pay) to send their child here. This program will set these students up for success by making them more marketable when they are looking for jobs in the future. It will also provide them with the opportunities to travel and learn from other cultures. They are not creating this program because of or for illegal immigrants. This is a private school for legal residents. And only permitting students to learn a second language once they reach high school puts them at a disadvantage. Children are able to pick up languages easier at a younger age. The likelihood of students reaching a level of fluency if they only take Spanish in high school is very low. I wish that I lived close enough to send my children to this school. It sounds like a great opportunity!

@P.A. Maloney: Yes, this is the USA, and we believe in this little thing called free speech.

Job opportunities in the workforce for bi-lingual job applicants have never been higher, and that need is only going to grow as time goes on. These kids will have a big leg up when they get out of school and need to compete in the business world. Now if we can only get some schools to do the same thing with Arabic and Chinese...

The fact of the matter is 30 million people in the United States speak Spanish. Globally, it is the third most widely spoken and studied language. It is essential that our children learn Spanish as soon as possible so that they can be competitive, well-educated students with a firm foundation in bilingualism. English will remain the lingua franca in the foreseeable future. Why should we harm our children by not teaching them another language? I speak Spanish and Portuguese fluently. Is my ability to converse in English anyway reduced? Heck, I wish they had taught me more languages in my youth!

Take it from someone who moved to Southern California and fluently speaks Spanish as a second language, this is a BIG mistake. There are some days when I hear at least five different languages spoken (more if I go to Costco or Walmart). I think immersion in a second language is good but that second language needs to be English (if we are to maintain our states united). When people who come to this country fail to assimilate we will cease to be the United States of America.

Funny how ignorant and backwards some Americans are. Go to any European country and most people are bilingual. They are not scared of different languages. If it makes sense to teach a child in Spanish, who cares? As long as that child also has the opportunity to learn good English, what's the problem? And if that child ends up getting a good job because he has diverse language skills, good for him!

Way to go Ed! What is nexct for Highlantown. Spanish to English school. You sure know how to rebound!

The Archdiocese is appealing to the Hispanic crowd. One the last remaining strong holds in the Catholic faith foundation located on this piece of land. They need butts in the pews! MONEY is money, especially for the Church. They need as much as they can get.

They speak more languages in Europe because it's Europe and for no other reason. In 3 hours you can cross 5 or more european countries so it's useful. I don't have a problem learning a second lanquage but English must be the primary language for everyone in the Country.

Looks like this will create more problems than it will solve. The whole biligual argument is rediculous. Everyone that chooses to live in this country should speak one language. Learning a second language is simply a waste of time if you already speak english and don't travel to Europe or some other foreign place regularly. How will this benefit the country? Or are we only concerned about the poor illegal immigrants these days?

Joe says it well. This isn't about immersion. This is about getting a historically Catholic ethnicity in the pews. Especially an ethnicity that doesn't believe in birth control but will put a few dollars in the collection plate.

Hey if the Catholic Church wants to pay for the education of anchor children, then let 'em. It's better than forcing the taxpayers to do it.

I hope the Spanish program at this new Archdiocesan school is better than the Spanish education my children are required to participate in. At St. Mark’s in Catonsville, the Spanish teacher usually just gives the students handouts to work on, with little or no instruction, while she sits in the back of the room texting on her pink cell phone. Some of the handouts are not even Spanish material, such as connect the dot pictures. Multiple complaints to the principal from numerous parents have brought no change. And don’t get me started on the art teacher who is apparently on the payroll because of a family connection. Too much mediocrity and political correctness are destroying us.

I guess we’ll be experiencing another round of Catholic school closings in a few years, and we’ll have to listen to all of the parishioners in places like Catonsville say they had no idea.

I better hear that the kids will have learned to understand, read and speak fluent English before they graduate or my weekly collection to the Archdiocese will be dropping drastically.

Where in the constitution does it say we must only learn English?

Where in the constitution does it say we have freedom of speech?

Adonde en la constitucion esta escrito que solamente podemos hablar en ingles?

Adonde en la constitucion esta escrito que tenemos libertad de expresion?

You are free in this country... Even free to be ignorant if you so choose...

Has anyone else noticed the number and flagrancy of grammatical mistakes from these English-first folks?

Morons.

Maybe if you all had learned a second language during childhood you'd be able to demonstrate proficiency in your own "primary" language (I use "primary" hesitantly because, clearly, these folks don't quite understand the meaning of standard English).

Get real, and get an education.

You speak English because you live in America...if you want to get along in America, you speak English...if you want to do business in America, you speak English...if you want to prosper in America, you speak English.
If you want to speak spanish or french or gaelic or any other FOREIGN language, feel free to do so in the comfort of your own home but don't expect American society to change 200 years of tradition, growth and prosperity, just because you're here.

here is one for you....the archdiocese has a facebook page where there were hundreds of comments about the various goings on with closing these schools....they conveniently deleted all those derogitory comments...and i mean hundreds of them....we just noticed this today...it just shows how they are covering up the real truth and trying to lie to stay on message....what a sham....they do not want the truth about what parents and alums and students have to say to be noticed....

you guys should report this for sure....WE ARE MORE OUTRAGED THAN EVER TODAY....THIS LATEST ATTEMPT BY THE ARCHDIOCESE AND ARCHBISHOP TO COVER UP THE FACTS OF OUR DISPLEASURE IN THEM IS JUST LIKE THE COVER UP OF THE SEX SCANDALS...THEY THINK THEY CAN SWEEP IT UNDER THE RUG AND NOBODY WILL BOTHER TO ASK....WELL NO LONGER...WE WILL NEVER STOP ATTACKING THEIR CREDIBILITY !

JOHN HEDDINGER

GIBBONS--1972

John - what real truth are they covering up? I've heard many a disgruntled parent of CG alum make those accusations, but I have seen no one actually produce anything credible to merit the accusation. What I do know is enrollment at the school was declining and well below most of the other high schools. No one wanted to see any schools closed but considering CG was well below capacity it was not surprising it ended up being one of the ones closed.

I truly don't understand the outrage. This is a private school that is offering a program for parents who wish to have their children become proficient in Spanish. Would you be having the same issues if they had a program that stressed business or science proficiency? Students who study other languages do better on standardized tests, have a better understanding of people/cultures that are different (clearly something that is needed!), have a better understanding of their own language and may have more employment options. Learning is a good thing. Get over your fear of knowledge, ignorance is your real enemy.a

This is a school for English speakers who would like to learn Spanish! It is not for illegal immigrants to learn English. How many illegal immigrants to do you know that can afford to send their children to private Catholic school? There is no reason to get upset about this school. If you don't want to give your children all of the opportunites that come with knowing a second language- like higher test scores, being more marketable when looking for a job, and the freedom to travel and learn from other cultures- then don't send them to a bilingual school. You all are acting like this is some crazy ploy by the Catholic church to help the illegal immigrants take over Baltimore. They are simply providing their students with this wonderful opportunity to learn a second language. My goodness, people, educate yourselves!

It is so easy to conclude that all that is going on is parents giving their children a better education. The argument sounds so reasonable. When I was a kid I was taught that the USA was the greatest country on earth - now that is made to sound evil. One tiny step at a time we are being taught to be ashamed of our culture. We need to be like the Europeans they say. Well 200 years ago we went down a different path - and until a few years ago we had been wildly successful, in fact the envy of the rest of the world. Let the rest of the world learn English!

It amazes me to read so many jingoistic and racist postings here. I won't speak to the quality (or even motives) of Catholic education, but the notion that kids are not made more educated by knowing a second language is ludicrous. And to equate learning Spanish with a failure to assimilate is asinine.

By the way, every immigration wave in this country's history has been met with similar resistance from those already here ... who seem to have forgotten their own immigrant roots.

The comments in this article, show how ignorant some Americans can be. Can we just not blame immigrants for everything that we think is wrong in this city or in this country. Many of you who love to hate Immigrants legal or undocumented are simply a bunch of Hippocrates. How many of you benefit from the many contributions made by immigrant to this city, state and country. By the way 200 years ago Spanish was well spoken in this country why do you think we have cities and states that have Spanish names such Los Angeles, California, Florida, San Francisco, etc.

At one time in the 1930s and 40s, Holy Rosary Church in Baltimore taught all of it's students certain classes in both English and Polish. This wasn't because they were trying to change the local language to Polish, they were simply helping the children of immigrant, Polish-speaking parents to adapt to our country. Speaking both languages actually made the transition easier for both the children and their parents. Today, how many communities in Baltimore speak Polish only? None. Polish communities kept their homeland's traditions but slowly adopted English as their primary language. Perhaps this is what the Spanish-speaking community has needed.

We should focus on the universal language and the one that built this nation, and that is English.

Once again, instead of pandering for votes, the church is looking to pad their bottom line.

Buzz,

"Universal," huh?

845,000,000 people in the world speak Mandarin Chinese.

329,000,000 people in the world speak Spanish.

328,000,000 people in the world speak English.

Your hubris (look it up) and provincialism are astounding.

And ... by the way ... this country was "built" by a legion of immigrants, each of whom brought his/her own language to the task.

It ashames me to read such comments about not promoting language learning. There are proven statistics that show students improve in their own language and increase in intellect when learning a second and or third language. I don't understand why people are so hestitant to learning Spanish. What....are you afraid that one day English won't be the language of the world? Well wake up...it already isn't. Yes, as of today, English is the lingua franca of the world; However, Chinese (mandarin) and Arabic are the languages of the future. Spanish very well may be the language for the Americas. Its funny how the U.S., Canada and a few other Caribbean islands speak English while the rest of the North, Central and South America speak Spanish and they are the ones who dictate who speaks what....Come on....The same narrow minded thinking is the same reason why we are in the situation we are in today. The rest of the world speaks more than one language. Why does the US have to keep hindering our children and country because of super conservative thinkers like the ones I read above. Silly.....just silly....

It is so distressing to hear people take this as a shocking thing. I am a Cuban American....born in the USA. I am so grateful to my parents for allowing me the opportunity to speak three languages. Spanish, English and French all fluent by 8 years of age...no accent detected. We must not mistake learning any language with immigration issues. Children in Europe speak their native tongues and English as a second language. Why do we need to be so intolerant and not see beyond the issues. What a blessing it is for our children to speak different languages especially in a world that is becoming smaller in regards to communication. I am proud to be a Roman Catholic, a Cuban-American, and mostly I am especially proud of being a citizen of the United States of America. I commend the Archdiocese for providing our children with the same opportunities I was given by parent that were all inclusive and saw the value of a broad education.