Bilingual Education

So the LAUSD district staff recommends expansion of bilingual education and “putting a priority” on hiring bilingual teachers from kindergarten through third grade. Reasonable enough, on the face of it. But look a little deeper, and what does one see?

One sees a sort of hyperactive legerdemain consisting of massive use of undertrained and underpaid bilingual aides and hundreds upon hundreds of monolingual teachers on bilingual “waiver” (“I’ll learn Spanish within seven years”). Simply being honest about the present charade, meaning paying the aides (teachers, in effect) better than fast-food workers or making a sincere effort to help teachers learn the language--this alone would cost millions of dollars.

But leave reality aside. As Times staff writer Anne Roark makes clear in her valuable series of articles (Part I, March 13-16), credentialed bilingual and/or minority teachers are already in short supply. Drilling more wells will not raise the water table. The new plans are just one more exercise in self-deception and a further betrayal of parents and children who deserve to be told the truth about current realities.

WILLIAM FARRAR

Huntington Park