Other Voices Speak on Bilingual Education
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When I was in elementary school, Luther Burbank Elementary in Altadena, I was taught that this great country of ours was a melting pot. For the last 40 years, I have thought the meaning of that was that people from many different countries came to the United States, became united in their beliefs, and also united in their language.
My grandfather, who is now 97 years old, was one of those people who came here, or rather escaped to this country, and learned to speak the English language. He was not babied and coddled in school; they did not speak to him in his native Armenian. Perhaps if they did he would not have learned to speak English so well.
I have my children in a private school. The main reason: I do not want them to have an inferior education. I feel that by going to a bilingual school they would have just that. I don’t enjoy paying a hefty tuition, in addition to taxes that support my local school. I feel I am being wronged much more than Mrs. Quezada and her students.
JANICE AVAZIAN PETAS, Sherman Oaks
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