Precisely -- it was bloviating commentators that invented the charge that Obama wants to force Spanish onto students.

No, right-wing commentators were mainly focused on the idea that rather than immigrants learning English, non-immigrants should try and learn a second language.

Which makes perfect financial sense. I'm a free marketer; reminding people of how to get an instant raise doesn't offend me. It's a free country, and people can continue to choose not to learn a second language as they desire. Linguistic nativism is the right-wing's ignorant stepsister of the socialists' trade populism.

Increased awareness of a useful second language is indeed very beneficial, Wish we did it in Ireland instead of pushing a dead useless language on children.

It doesn't really make sense. Nationalism is a funny beast. Could you imagine Estonia declaring its borders Estonian-only? Oy vey!

How about
- Estonian SS veterans who worked for nazis and fought for them being celebrated as national heroes and liberators with prime minister and key political leaders visiting their conventions and giving speeches in their honor here and there;
- WWII monument with the remains of soldiers who died fighting the nazis cut into pieces and relocated without honors from the center of Tallin on the Victory Day with some people protesting this vandalism beaten, arrested and one kid killed (beaten to death by police, chained with handcuffs to a pillar and left to die, unconscious and bleeding);
- the only living Estonian Hero of Soviet Union (highest military award), 88 year old WWII hero and Chairman of Estonian Anti-Fascist Committee, native Estonian, being under trial for crimes against humanity and genocide?

Looks like he got a little bump.

Yup. Count on Republicans to take the pro-ignorance stance.

That isn't ignorant. I'm all for learning a second language, I myself know spanish. However, thinking someone that immigrates over to America but shouldn't have to try and learn english is not right. If you immigrate over here you should at least try and learn the language.

however, I do agree that some of the commentators have their heads up their asses because they come from the view point that since we are America we don't need to learn a second language. And that's just plain foolish.

I wouldn't go that far. To give an extreme example, look at India. India should remind us all of the importance of having one common language within a country. While learning additional languages is helpful, conservative frustration with non-English speaking Americans is understandable.

Most people in India probably cannot communicate with each other .. what with over 200 regional dialects to speak from. You can live in India and never learn Hindi if you felt like it.

Yeah, except Obama never said anything of the sort. In fact, he said the opposite. ""Now I agree that immigrants should learn English. I agree with that."

So count on Republicans to take the LYING and DISHONEST pro-ignorance stance.

This has NOTHING to do with immigrants learning English, which Obama stated that he's for. It is about American students learning a foreign language to better prepare themselves for a global marketplace. THAT is what Republicans are railing against, and their stance IS pro-ignorance. And it's not the only one they have.

Precisely the problem. Great for anthropologists, not so great for a government trying to muster the wherewithal to get things done.

Being monolingual doesn't make someone ignorant, just less capable.

Again, not the point. ADVOCATING for monolingualism makes one "pro-ignorance."

I dunno, everyone in the world speaking one language would be pretty sweet!

The Burj Dubai better watch out

Most of the tenants surely are Europeans.