From: Mike Lorrey (mlorrey@datamann.com)
Date: Fri Jun 22 2001 - 17:28:31 MDT
Leonardo Gonzalez wrote:
>
> It is more effective for the child to learn basic reading and writing skills
> in the language they already know and speak, than to struggle with these
> tasks in a language foreign to them. When the time comes to learn English,
> they can apply the literary and cognitive skills they have already
> developed.
Then why is it that the immigrant community had a higher literacy rate
in the 1920's than today?
>
> Sadly, it is true that the drive to eliminate bilingual education has many
> Latino proponents. This is because of the devaluation of the the native
> language and culture for many immigrants. They are made to feel that their
> own language and culture are unimportant and inferior. They want their
> children to succeed in life, and would like them to adopt US American
> language and lifestyles. It's too bad that they fail to see the value of
> being biligual/biliterate, and that they do not realize it is actually in
> their child's educational best interest to begin their education in their
> native language.
This is such a crock. My Italian grandmother would laugh in your face at
such a ludicrous statement. She, and we, are quite proud of our italian
heritage (we eat it several nights a week) that originates in Modena,
but I have not heard more than a smattering of italian in any of our
relatives households since I was a small boy, and we would not think of
insisting on our kids being educated in Italian first, they'd be as lost
as we would be.
Furthermore, I've seen case of kids with hispanic sounding last names
being forced into spanish speaking educational systems despite never
having heard a word of spanish in their lives. It is obviously a case of
the squeaky wheel getting oiled, since the same schools sytems fail to
do the same for German, Italian, Russian, Swedish, French, Chinese,
Korean, and Japanese students (and just imagine trying to give
'bilingual' education to african americans... most have no idea what
tribe their ancestors are from).
Bilingual education is not about pride, it is about keeping a segment of
the population permanently economically marginalized and politically
indebted to one political party, the Democrats.
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