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Penn. judge: Learn English or go to jail
Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 4/1/2008 4:00:00 AM
An English language advocate is praising a Pennsylvania judge for ordering three convicted criminals to learn English or go to jail.
Recently four men who could not speak English were brought before Luzerne County Judge Peter Paul Olszewski to plead guilty on charges of criminal conspiracy to commit robbery. All four men needed translators during the proceedings, and Olszewski sentenced them jail terms of 24 months. However, he gave three of them parole with the stipulation that if they learn to read and write English, earn their GEDs, and get full-time jobs, they can remain out of jail.
Jim Boulet, executive director of English First, calls this judgment a "tremendous outbreak of common sense in Pennsylvania." But while he considers the judge's ruling right on the mark, he says believes the problem is the result of the government pushing "multiculturalism" and not insisting people learn English.
"They're given a bilingual education program, maybe with some multicultural history about how the United States robbed Mexico of its patrimony," he continues. "So [immigrants] come out ... uneducated. They don't speak English and they're making a living [by] robbing people. There's the triumph of multicultural education right there."
Boulet believes it is a good development that the judge is giving the men a second chance. The attorney for one of the defendants even suggested that the ruling was good for his client.
Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 4/1/2008 4:00:00 AM
An English language advocate is praising a Pennsylvania judge for ordering three convicted criminals to learn English or go to jail.
Recently four men who could not speak English were brought before Luzerne County Judge Peter Paul Olszewski to plead guilty on charges of criminal conspiracy to commit robbery. All four men needed translators during the proceedings, and Olszewski sentenced them jail terms of 24 months. However, he gave three of them parole with the stipulation that if they learn to read and write English, earn their GEDs, and get full-time jobs, they can remain out of jail.
Jim Boulet, executive director of English First, calls this judgment a "tremendous outbreak of common sense in Pennsylvania." But while he considers the judge's ruling right on the mark, he says believes the problem is the result of the government pushing "multiculturalism" and not insisting people learn English.
"They're given a bilingual education program, maybe with some multicultural history about how the United States robbed Mexico of its patrimony," he continues. "So [immigrants] come out ... uneducated. They don't speak English and they're making a living [by] robbing people. There's the triumph of multicultural education right there."
Boulet believes it is a good development that the judge is giving the men a second chance. The attorney for one of the defendants even suggested that the ruling was good for his client.
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