Posted By CotoBlogzz
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA - You may recall the infamous encounter between Alice and the
Cat in Wonderland:
"Cheshire-Puss, would
you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"
"That depends a great
deal on where you want to get to" said the Cat
"I don't much care
where -," said Alice.
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go,"
said the Cat.
Sounds eerily familiar to what is
going on in ObamaLand
Even worse, the California
University System seems to be doing an excellent Alice impersonation: With a downgraded national credit rating,
joblessness rate at an all time high and prospects of a double-dip recession,
the California University at Irvine (UCI), using a grant from Be Smart
About Safety (BSAS) to cordially invite you to learn Spanish. The BSAS a program is designed to
increase awareness of employee safety and provide a funding mechanism that allows the campus and medical centers to
invest in loss prevention programs and
efforts in order to reduce the number of employee injuries was initiated through the University of California Office
of the President, Risk Services (OPRS) in July 1, 2006.
Apparently the UCI
Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity figures that if English-Speaking
employees learn to communicate in Spanish with non-English speaking employees,
the work environment will be much safer.
And while learning to speak Spanish, why not make it fun? For example, the SURVIVAL SPANISH I is a 12-week class and in addition to
sessions on language, the program will offer supplemental sessions on Latino
culture. The cultural component
introduces etiquette, foods, music, and information about community events.
Now, the SURVIVAL SPANISH II class builds on skills acquired at
the beginning level. This course
is conducted entirely in Spanish, and
focuses upon small-group interaction and real-life scenarios. The instructor is
Bill Harvey, a dynamic coach with a theater
background, who will have participants speaking Spanish within the first three minutes of class. His adult participants describe him as very
interactive, energetic and fabulous.
Bill has published several books
and audio materials teaching Spanish to
adults.
All of this for free!
Well not really. The
cost is courtesy of Joe the
taxpayer, does not take into account
the Law of Unintended Consequences, and
does not provide any insight into the cost of the infrastructure required to
support initiatives such as this. In
other words, it is government waste at its best, and why we continue to posit
that Liberal Arts Education should be privatized and public universities should
strictly focus on Math and Sciences research.
Having English speakers communicate with non-English
speakers in Spanish provides a disincentive to assimilate. Not unlike the extension of unemployment
insurance that can act as a disincentive to find a job, for instance. Then there is the cost develop the trainers
– an entry level translator’s salary is around $75.000 – do the math.
So, how about increasing the national debt limit again, so
that Congress can pass yet another useless stimulus package and have the
national credit rating be classified as junk?
The actual invite below, for reference
Subject: Survival Spanish I and II
Date: Wed, 03 Aug
2011 18:00:52 -0700
From: Kirsten K.
Quanbeck, Asst. Executive Vice Chancellor, Director, OEOD
To: UCI Campus Community, All Medical Center Staff
Employees:
The Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity, with the
generous support of a Be Smart About Safety grant, is proud to offer SURVIVAL
SPANISH I and SURVIVAL SPANISH II at the Irvine Campus.
SURVIVAL SPANISH I
In this 12-week class participants will learn to speak
functional Spanish that is job-related and/or relevant to their
professional needs. In addition to sessions on language, the
program will offer supplemental sessions on Latino culture. The cultural component introduces etiquette, foods, music, and
information about community events.
SURVIVAL SPANISH II
In this 12-week class, participants will build on skills
acquired at the beginning level. This course is conducted entirely in
Spanish, and focuses upon small-group
interaction and real-life scenarios.
Course content includes advanced vocabulary and grammar,
along with conversational expressions,
interview questions, and business-related
commands. As always, culture
tips are provided and all instruction is
tailored to meet the needs of the class.
Prerequisite for Survival Spanish II: Employees may participate in Survival Spanish II without graduating from
Survival Spanish I. Survival Spanish
II is designed for any employee who is already using some Spanish at the workplace, but would like to reach the next
level
of language proficiency.
The instructor is Bill Harvey, a dynamic coach with a
theater background, who will have
participants speaking Spanish within the
first three minutes of class.
His adult participants describe him as
very interactive, energetic and fabulous. Bill has published
several books and audio materials teaching Spanish to adults.
The SURVIVAL SPANISH I class will begin Tuesday, September
13th from 10 a.m. to Noon. The SURVIVAL SPANISH II class will begin
Wednesday, October 26th from 1 p.m. to
3 p.m. To ensure a quality experience, the
class will be limited to 30 participants with preference for
employees who have a work-related
reason to learn Spanish.
To express your interest in participating, please contact
Gecole Harley at gharley@uci.edu.
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