The Cupertino Courier

Letters

CUSD board: Vote for immersion

The Cupertino Union School District has a well-earned reputation for innovation with strong academic results. The proposed dual-language immersion program will very likely be another successful and popular choice for parents. It seems to me that controversy surrounding the program stems from some misconceptions. One myth is that the dual-language program would only benefit minority language students.

The reality is that dual-language immersion programs in San Francisco at Alice Fong-Yu and West Portal and in Palo Alto at Escondido (Spanish/English) are extremely successful academically and immensely popular, mostly among Caucasian students. In my survey of Cupertino parents, the same pattern emerges: Mandarin speakers just want to transfer to fluency in English with one teacher, while many more English speakers want the fluency in a second language that only comes with instruction at an early age.

Another myth is that the immersion program would take away funding from other programs. The cost of the immersion program is very much the same as a "regular" classroom, just using a teacher proficient in two languages. Other successful immersion programs in the Bay Area have offered to help.

Another misconception is that dual-language students won't learn English as well as their peers. But numerous studies have shown that learning two languages at an early age enhances language skills in general. Locally, San Francisco, Fremont and Palo Alto dual-language-program students score above their English-only peers on third-grade and above English reading and writing tests.

Cupertino is a very diverse community. Chinese-Americans make up 27 percent of CUSD students. Let's take advantage of that diversity with a program that will help students understand each other, work together and foster a united community. How can this be divisive?

I urge the board to move forward in implementing the proposed dual-language immersion program and allow parents to choose what's best for their children.

Hal Sampson
Sunnyvale

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