Speak-o English-o Only-o

Y'all know I'm no fan of the NEW Arizona, where you can get stopped for looking Hispanic, acting Hispanic, sounding Hispanic, or wearing Hispanic clothes. Now, Arizona has taken the crazy a step further.

They don't want anyone with a strong accent teaching their kids. Now, mind you, I don't think it's any strong accent other than an Hispanic strong accent, but, for now, they're just saying accent.

The Arizona Department of Education recently began telling school districts that teachers whose spoken English it deems to be heavily accented or ungrammatical must be removed from classes for students still learning English. Read: Hispanic.

Karla Campillo-Soto, a native of Mexico, who teaches kindergarten to students limited English skills, took a course to try to reduce her accent in English, but two other kindergarten teachers at the same school were deemed not fluent enough for such students. Buh-Bye Spanish speakers.

State education officials say the move is intended to ensure that students with limited English have teachers who speak the language flawlessly. But some school principals and administrators say the department is imposing arbitrary fluency standards that could undermine students by thinning the ranks of experienced educators.

And, how do you determine flawlessly? People say Nev-a-da, others say Nev-ah-da. There's Or-e-gun, and Or-e-gone. Which version is flawless.

Don't get me started. I'm thinking of all these people in South Carolina. One night in a restaurant, I heard a woman at another table ask for more bray-ed. More bread could get her fired from her teaching job in Arizona.

This hit home when Carlos and I first moved to South Carolina. He worked for a woman we like to call She-Who-Will-Not-Be-Mentioned at an animal hospital. Now, Carlos has lived in the states for twenty-plus years, but the accent--and it's a sexy one, I don't mind saying--is still there. Well, his former "boss" once chastised him because she thought he was saying what sounded like the letter 'B' instead of the letter 'V'. He wasn't fired for it, but she didn't bother to take a moment to ask.

Just like Arizona.