Bilingual Classes
Your story on bilingual education (Sept. 27) implied that I support the weakening of bilingual education laws in California. I don’t.
In 1953 UNESCO stated that it is axiomatic that children receive initial instruction in their primary language. Research conducted throughout the world since then empirically supports the concept of bilingual education. I find it sad and naive that in our multicultural, multilingual state there appears to be a movement to weaken existing bilingual education laws.
On this issue, which has the potential of successfully educating many of our limited-English-proficient students, we should accept a global perspective instead of our uninformed and typically provincial attitude.
S. ANA GARZA
La Palma
Garza is an associate professor in the department of elementary/bilingual education at Cal State Fullerton.
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