The Willow Glen Resident

Letters

Still reaching for the brass ring: bilingualism

I was quite surprised when I read Michael Johnson's "English-only is the way to go" letter in The Resident. It seemed so unlike him.

I observed with interest his recent fight for the San Jose Unified School District school board. His statements in the Willow Glen Resident had led me to believe that if a parent wanted a bilingual program for their child, it was OK by him. I was relieved. Mr. Johnson saw that our pluralistic society must embrace more than one method of language development. When I saw him playing basketball with neighbors at River Glen Park (surrounded by his campaign placards) and waving enthusiastically from his car during the Founders Day parade, I said to myself, "Now here's a guy who sees the big picture."

Well. You can imagine how surprised I was by his recent letter to the editor. I had some difficulty wading through the grammar and sentence structure, but I was finally able to get its gist. English only? Where did this come from? Not my Michael Johnson! Not the man who could appreciate the value of a bilingual program!

What happened, Mike? I'm so disappointed. You changed!

I regret that I had an English-only education. Now, at almost 50, I'm still pursuing the brass ring: bilingualism. You see, I had to wait until the seventh grade to be offered a second-language course. We are limited to thinking only in our native language if no other language is introduced by age 9.

My godson began learning English in his French public school at age 6. He's now 11. He speaks two languages. He thinks in two languages. He jokes in two languages, as does my 9-year-old bilingual daughter. I thank God every day of the week for her bilingualism, as well as the world view that comes with this magnificent gift.

Virginia Drake
Pine Avenue

Article captured the heart of River Glen

Thank you very much for running Lauren Barack's article on Ron Unz's English for the Children initiative in the Nov. 12 issue of the Willow Glen Resident. All three of my children have attended River Glen, and I believe their participation in the program will serve as a key to their future successes.

My older two are now attending other schools after completing the program in sixth grade. My daughter is a straight A student in Milpitas, a predominantly Asian environment, and my son is attending Willow Glen High School as a freshman and is enrolled in Spanish 5/6. He wants to enroll in summer school this year to start taking French. He is excited at the prospect of learning another language. He would not feel this way if not for River Glen. The school has given him the confidence that he needs to succeed in a multicultural community.

I have a very big problem with Mr. Unz's initiative. It will ban any successful bilingual programs and force children of all ages and cultures to attend one year of English before being put into the mainstream. This means a 13-year-old Croatian will be placed in class with a 6-year-old Hispanic with a teacher who may not know either language at all. I would like to understand why he thinks banning bilingual programs statewide will solve a small problem in a Los Angeles school? That is like using a bulldozer to do your backyard gardening. Mr. Unz and his supporters need to look at the positive side of bilingual programs such as River Glen's, where all ethnic groups benefit.

Lauren, your article captured the essence of the River Glen program in that the children attending the school are proud of their heritage, their native language and their bilingual abilities, and they are motivated about their future. They fit in. Thank you for writing it.

Kerrigan Lester
Cross Way

Unz is motivated by a political agenda

Regarding your Nov. 6 article on Ron Unz's initiative, Unz has never visited River Glen, Alianza, Fiesta Gardens or any other successful bilingual program where all children, regardless of their first language, are learning in both English and Spanish. He has only been in the classroom of Gloria Matta Tuchman, the co-author of the initiative, and when pressed for research to bolster his position, he cites that visit. Unz doesn't care about children, he doesn't care about teachers and he doesn't really care about bilingual education one way or the other.

What Unz cares about is running for governor. He ran unsuccessfully against Wilson in the 1994 gubernatorial primary. At that time, no one had heard of him, and those who had were not terribly impressed. Now he is quickly becoming a household word. Unz is willing and happy to take advantage of the current reactionary political climate and make his run on the backs of parents and children who simply don't have the wherewithal to fight back.

The Unz Initiative will make the ballot, and it will probably win big. But read it carefully before you vote. As it is written, it will diminish local control and parent choice in schooling. It redefines the status of teachers as professionals, setting a precedent for holding teachers personally liable for instructional choices. And it opens the door to legislation that will outlaw languages other than English in all kinds of ways. I don't want to think that parents seeking emergency medical care for their children will be forbidden to do so except in English, but those kinds of things have happened historically where use of language has been limited by law.

It's undeniable that bilingual programs are often flawed, lacking trained or even bilingual staff and needed resources. It's also true that too many Latino kids don't do well in school. That was true before bilingual education, and reasons for their failure go far beyond the schoolhouse door. But you can't really talk to Unz and his supporters about bilingual education, and that isn't surprising, since frankly, it doesn't interest them at all.

Judith Lessow-Hurley
San Jose

Mainstreaming the kids is the solution

Reading your article regarding River Glen's bilingual programs, I was reminded of my own crash course in English at a Catholic grade school in a German/Polish immigrant neighborhood in Chicago.

No bilingual programs were available, and no one spoke a word of my native Spanish.

By November of that year, I spoke fluent English. By third grade, I was the top student in my class. Now, 40 years and several degrees later, I am fluent in both Spanish and English. I have no accent in either language.

How lucky I was to not be segregated in a bilingual class away from the mainstream, not to be singled out and not to be treated as though I needed special help. Instead, the school assumed I was capable of competing and learning at the same pace as my English-only speaking peers. Yes, it was tough for a month or so, but I was alone. Now there are other students who speak the same language. Like my Polish classmates, I would assume they can be of help to each other.

George Posada
Glen Brook Avenue

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