January 17, 2005: Headlines: COS - Swaziland: Service: Hispanic Issues: Education: Bilingual Education: LA Times: The rejection of well-respected community leader Reed Hastings to the State Board of Education is most unfortunate
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January 17, 2005: Headlines: COS - Swaziland: Service: Hispanic Issues: Education: Bilingual Education: LA Times: The rejection of well-respected community leader Reed Hastings to the State Board of Education is most unfortunate
The rejection of well-respected community leader Reed Hastings to the State Board of Education is most unfortunate
The rejection of well-respected community leader Reed Hastings to the State Board of Education is most unfortunate
The Split Over Bilingual Education
Re "Democrats Reject Gov.'s Nominee," Jan. 13: Most children quickly integrated into English-only classrooms when parents chose these after seeing the lack of progress in the bilingual programs of the past. Positive results are evident when seeing children serving as interpreters for parents at clinics, hospitals and businesses.
The rejection of well-respected community leader Reed Hastings to the State Board of Education is most unfortunate. He dared support English-language reading for immigrant children. The backing from the state superintendent of public instruction, business leaders, California Teachers Federation, charter schools and others could not outweigh the advocates of bilingual education.
Hastings was accused of not showing enough empathy for Latin parents' concerns. Really? Where would Latin lawmakers Martha Escutia, Don Perata and Gil Cedillo be today had they been mired in ill-conceived bilingual programs and not learned the necessary English for their careers as state senators?
Eva L. Barcia
Los Angeles
*
Bilingual education in California is more often than not monolingual, which means that students who speak Spanish at home are handicapped in not learning the language that is spoken in college, boardrooms and the Congress. If only an hour a day were allotted for real "bilingual" education, then all students in the state would learn Spanish, starting in preschool.
In Europe, most people know more than one language. There is no excuse for Americans to be less educated than Europeans. Learning the language of a neighboring country makes for understanding that culture and alleviating prejudices. Learning a second language early in life leaves room in the brain for learning languages in general.
Bilingual education should not be restricted to college-bound students and children of immigrants. It's time for "mainstream" American students to see there is more than one way to say "freedom," "democracy" and "love."
Mary Jacobs
Los Angeles
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Oh, what a fiasco for the Democrats! Reed Hastings, one the wealthiest and most energetic Democrats in government service, lost his seat on the State Board of Education because he refused to support the voter-discarded bilingual education travesty.
Perata and two other Democratic senators put a knife into the back of one of their own because he wouldn't kowtow to the open-borders lobby, which obviously still wants to teach the children of illegal immigrants in Spanish so they can (theoretically) return to Mexico untainted by our tongue or culture.
This is more proof that crazy people run Sacramento and another boost for the governor's redistricting plan.
T.J. Pierce
San Francisco
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Hastings ran into trouble because of his stand on bilingual education. I find this to be quite troublesome, that a man such as Hastings is being rejected for this reason.
We are a nation of immigrants who, outside of the Pilgrims, who already spoke English, did not speak English on their arrival in this country. The government didn't require those already here to learn Italian, Polish, Yiddish, Russian, Gaelic, etc. Yet these people grew and prospered anyway.
Why is it we are now asked to offer bilingual education? When we go to a foreign country, we must get by in their language. When the governor came here, did he have bilingual help in German? I think not.
I don't think it is too much to ask that, if you are here and making use of what this country has to offer, then speak English.
Stephen Hariton
Westlake Village
When this story was posted in January 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:
| Ask Not As our country prepares for the inauguration of a President, we remember one of the greatest speeches of the 20th century and how his words inspired us. "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man." |
| Latest: RPCVs and Peace Corps provide aid Peace Corps made an appeal last week to all Thailand RPCV's to consider serving again through the Crisis Corps and more than 30 RPCVs have responded so far. RPCVs: Read what an RPCV-led NGO is doing about the crisis an how one RPCV is headed for Sri Lanka to help a nation he grew to love. Question: Is Crisis Corps going to send RPCVs to India, Indonesia and nine other countries that need help? |
| The World's Broken Promise to our Children Former Director Carol Bellamy, now head of Unicef, says that the appalling conditions endured today by half the world's children speak to a broken promise. Too many governments are doing worse than neglecting children -- they are making deliberate, informed choices that hurt children. Read her op-ed and Unicef's report on the State of the World's Children 2005. |
| Our debt to Bill Moyers Former Peace Corps Deputy Director Bill Moyers leaves PBS next week to begin writing his memoir of Lyndon Baines Johnson. Read what Moyers says about journalism under fire, the value of a free press, and the yearning for democracy. "We have got to nurture the spirit of independent journalism in this country," he warns, "or we'll not save capitalism from its own excesses, and we'll not save democracy from its own inertia." |
| Is Gaddi Leaving? Rumors are swirling that Peace Corps Director Vasquez may be leaving the administration. We think Director Vasquez has been doing a good job and if he decides to stay to the end of the administration, he could possibly have the same sort of impact as a Loret Ruppe Miller. If Vasquez has decided to leave, then Bob Taft, Peter McPherson, Chris Shays, or Jody Olsen would be good candidates to run the agency. Latest: For the record, Peace Corps has no comment on the rumors. |
| The Birth of the Peace Corps UMBC's Shriver Center and the Maryland Returned Volunteers hosted Scott Stossel, biographer of Sargent Shriver, who spoke on the Birth of the Peace Corps. This is the second annual Peace Corps History series - last year's speaker was Peace Corps Director Jack Vaughn. |
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Story Source: LA Times
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Swaziland; Service; Hispanic Issues; Education; Bilingual Education
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