Posts Tagged: language
Recent News
Decades of underinvestment in schools, culture battles over bilingual education, and dizzying levels of income inequality have pushed California to the bottom of the pile, making it the least literate state in the nation. Nearly 1 in 4 people over the age of 15 lack the skills to decipher the words in this sentence. Only 77 percent of adults are considered mid to highly literate, according to the nonpartisan data crunchers at World Population Review.
News
California courts are occasionally faced with scrutinizing the lawmakers’ decisions to label some bills as urgency statutes and others as special statutes. It may sound unexciting, but the reality is this: The courts’ rulings can affect millions of Californians.
News
State Sen. Holly Mitchell was appalled. Video of New jersey high school wrestler Andrew Johnson having his dreadlocks chopped off as a condition of competing in a match was spreading around the country. Johnson had competed in a previous tournament without incident, but was now being told by a white referee with a previous history of making racist comments to a black colleague that his hair was “unnatural,” and he could either cut it off or forfeit the match. Johnson chose the former.
Analysis
Lobbyists at the state Capitol have noticed a trend developing over the use of letters to the Daily Journals in the Assembly and Senate as a substitute for making bill amendments. It’s a development little noticed by the public, but it is being closely watched by those with business before the Legislature.
Opinion
OPINION: Mark Twain once proclaimed, “The government of my country snubs honest simplicity, but fondles artistic villainy, and I think I might have developed into a very capable pickpocket if I had remained in the public service a year or two.” These humorous words may elicit a smile, but clearly ring true more than a century later, and most certainly apply to the 340B drug discount program.
Opinion
OPINION: A lot of well-meaning, smart and politically savvy professionals cringe at the idea of putting together Spanish language advertisements. In seminars and forums they twist in circles trying to convince the audience and themselves that Hispanics can be easily reached in English. While the reasons may vary, in reality these are just excuses to mask an underlying concern: the fear of screwing up.
Opinion
OPINION: To our disappointment, SB 648 which started out as a tough crackdown on electronic cigarette manufacturers to ensure the health and safety of our children may end up giving tobacco companies the green light to once again begin marketing to California’s children.
A volunteer teacher reads to a group of young children. (Photo: Monkey Business Images, via Shutterstock)
