Because I invite email comments in my postings here, I do get lots of interesting emails. I reproduce two below that I think I should mention. The first concerns the fact that in some of my posts I use the word "Anglo":
"We're a little concerned about your use of "Anglo kids" to describe the non-Latinos in the school about which you wrote, Dixie Downs Elementary. The label "Anglo" is specifically designed to degrade most kids of European descent by smothering their diversity. The "Anglo kids" you mention are Celtic, Germanic, Italic, Slavic, and so on. They are by no means all of Anglo-Saxon descent. In addition, we don't like "Anglo" used for non-Anglo-Saxons on the ground that "Anglo" is a name slapped on these kids by Latinos. If we go out of our way to avoid naming Latino kids with names they don't want, isn't a little reciprocity required here?
That is a fair point I think. I myself was using "Anglo" as shorthand for "Anglophone" (meaning someone whose native language is English) and I think I am not alone in that practice but maybe I should spell out the whole word in future.
The second email concerns how I characterize teachers:
"As a teacher, I take offense with your implication that all teachers are Left Leaning. I am what you would call a Mexican American, but I prefer to be called a Tejano. My ancestors bled at the Alamo and were at San Jacinto when we vanquished Santa Anna. I am part of a large group of teachers who do not believe in dual immersion and we do not teach in Spanish. We are citizens of Texas and the United States. We owe nothing to Mexico and we owe much to Texas and the United States. It is the Yankee liberals, who talk out of their asses that give the rest of us a bad name. So, I ask you sir, to please measure your words and support conservative and moderate teachers who do not follow or lean to the left"
I am of course delighted to hear from such a patriotic teacher and am pleased that I have the opportunity of passing on his message. But he underestimates how carefully I measure my words. I said that as a GROUP teachers are Left-leaning, not that all teachers are Left-leaning. And anybody who knows anything about the NEA will be aware of where they stand politically. Interestingly, the article by Phyllis Schlafly that I linked to pointed out that about a third of NEA members were GOP-leaning not so long ago but most of them have in recent times resigned from the NEA because of its extreme Leftism.
