An interesting case of zero tolerance idiocy and hyper-legalism colliding in Kansas City, from the Washington Post:

Spanish At School Translates to Suspension

KANSAS CITY, Kan., Dec. 8 -- Most of the time, 16-year-old Zach Rubio converses in clear, unaccented American teen-speak, a form of English in which the three most common words are "like," "whatever" and "totally." But Zach is also fluent in his dad's native language, Spanish -- and that's what got him suspended from school.

Evidently this kid, who speaks primarily English, responded to a question asked in Spanish by answering in Spanish. It's a pretty natural reaction to respond to a query in the same language. He probably didn't even give it a thought. It's also important to note the conversation did not occur in the classroom, but in the hall between classes.

Now, we are strong supporters of assimilation, and even pushing immigrants and the children of immigrants to assimilate, especially when it comes to learning English. But this action by the school principal seems to be a gross overreach. It's one thing to encourage kids in school to speak English in the classroom, but to punish them for speaking Spanish, gives at least the appearance of anti-immigrant sentiment. We don't need to imply there's something wrong wih other languages to encourage English.

The Post continues:

The school district has officially rescinded his punishment and said that speaking a foreign language is not grounds for suspension. Meanwhile, the Rubio family has retained a lawyer, who says a civil rights lawsuit may be in the offing.

And here we have a gross overreaction from the other side, but a typical one in our hyper-litigious society. Notice that the school district quickly corrected the situation, but that didn't stop the inevitable lawyering-up and talk of lawsuits and civil rights grievances. Assimilation to this aspect of American society seems to be quite easy for many, unfortunately.