Common visual aids found in a Dual Language classroom. (Lucía Murguía/Borderzine.com)

Being monolingual in a multilingual society limits opportunities, but don’t give up

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Noam Chomsky, an American linguist once said, “I’m about as monolingual as you come, but nevertheless, I have a variety of different languages at my command, different styles, different ways of talking, which do involve different parameter settings.” Though powerful, this quote only speaks to me on a visual level. Growing up living in El Paso all my life, I’ve learned that being monolingual comes with many issues down the road. In El Paso, it’s not mandatory to know Spanish to get a job or be included but it’s highly recommended. Hispanic students at UTEP make up 77 percent of the school’s population.

Campus-carry opponents have their say at UTEP rally

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EL PASO — With the cameras rolling from every news station in the city, journalism Professor David Smith-Soto and State Sen. Jose Rodriguez used a megaphone to make their case against allowing the concealed carry of guns on the UT El Paso campus. “From one thing the presence of a gun in a classroom destroys the classroom, the environment of the classroom, being able to have discussions, that type of thing, but the most important thing is we don’t know who is carrying this gun and through our campus, all the gun massacres that have occurred on campuses have been done with legal weapons,” Smith-Soto said. He and Rodriguez addressed a small crowd of protesters who gathered at Leech Grove at UTEP Oct. 19 to show their opposition to the newly approved Texas law that will allow concealed guns on campus starting in the fall of 2016,

“I think it’s great that the students at UTEP are coming together and are expressing themselves – that guns on campus promote more violence; expose more people to harm,” Rodriguez said. Many faculty and staff members said they came out sign a petition and show support the movement for repealing the law.