Wednesday, May 13, 1998
Letters
Article distorts initiative’s goals
The opinion on Proposition 227 (English for the Children)
written by Graciela Geyer ("Prop. 227 aims to sink children’s
hopes," May 11) was rampant with distortions and falsities. First
of all, the reason that this was submitted as an initiative instead
of going through the legislature, is because the legislature is the
one playing politics with this issue, like so many other issues,
and not the sponsors.
Geyer belittles Ron Unz for his lack of an educational
background while she ignores the co-sponsor, Gloria Matta Tuchman,
who is both an award-winning teacher and a Latina! Jaime Escalante,
the teacher portrayed in the movie "Stand and Deliver" is the
honorary chairman of the campaign.
Also, Geyer assumes that schools will automatically throw high
school seniors in with kindergartners! This is false; the
initiative only says that this may be allowed, just like it is
allowed now for rural areas with small populations! Virtually all
children (affected by the initiative) will be in kindergarten or
the first couple of grades. It must be noted that this is not
English only, but simply primarily English.
This method of "immersion" does work, especially if the child is
around 6 years of age. Despite the fears of bilingual proponents,
children (yes, Latino/a children included) are intelligent, and at
that age, can readily learn another language. The current system of
"bilingual education" only serves to make children illiterate in
two languages, not proficient in several. We must change this. We
must help all children learn the common language of not only this
state and country, but also of the world.
Daniel B. Rego
Second-year
Political science