I agree with the article, “New York State Regulations Create Inequality,” because it shows the difference between people who are born here and the people who come here and don’t know any English.
For example, when I came here, I felt strange because I did not know anything in English and I had to work and study. That put a lot of pressure on me. I have to learn English because it is the language of this country.
Some people are racist to us when we do not speak English. They think that English is easy for us, but it is not. But thank God in this school we have good teachers who understand us. Also, they have the ESL room to teach us.
Sincerely,
Ericka Perez
It was my pleasure to read the article, “New York State Regulations Create Inequality.” I agree with this article because since New York State’s education is getting more challenging, those students who are having difficulties with learning English would experience a lot more pressure taking the New York State Regents Exam.
In addition, there are students who just moved to the United States. For them, it would be extremely difficult to learn the language and other subjects in English.
I remember when my family and I just moved to America and had to adapt to and learn about the cultural differences between my original culture and the new culture.
I was fortunate that I had a decent amount of time to prepare before I moved here.
But, there still is a major difference between my original culture and the new culture. Thus, from my own experience, forcing these students to learn something with unfamiliar language is not the best way to let them pass the New York Regent Exam.
The New York Regents Exam could increase the students’ learning ability much faster, but it will bring difficulties and a lot of pressures to them. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Luke Oh
I read the article, “New York State Regulations Create Inequality,” and it was really fascinating for me, as an ESL student, to see my experience from someone else’s point of view.
I agree with many points that Michaela Gawley mentioned in her article and I totally support her opinion that not every student is coming from the same family background, education, and advantage/disadvantage, which should be assumed by the State of New York.
My opinion is that you can’t expect the same performance from ESL students and native speakers.
I think the first priority of the State of New York is passing every student through the Regents with an equal opportunity for all students, although this is not true because there are so many disadvantages for ESL students. It is hard to learn the language and to answer difficult questions in English when you do not understand it.
But anyway, it seems like everyone is trying their best to make it as easy as possible for students for whom English is a foreign language.
When I first came here, my impression was that the ESL program is such a good system, which shows me that Schreiber really cares about their ESL students, even though it still seems impossible for some to pass the Regents according to the circumstances.
Sincerely,
Anna Otto
I agree with the article, “New York State Regulations Create Inequality,” because it is hard for ESL students to take the Regents when they do not know a lot of English.
I haven’t taken any Regents yet but the stuff that I have been learning to prepare for them is really hard and sometimes I can barely understand what the teacher is teaching me.
I think that it is unfair for ESL students to take the Regents when they don’t know English and to not have another way to get the the credit to be able to graduate from High School.
Sincerely,
Mileidy Davila