FIGHTING WORDS
Regarding “Fighting Words,” by Sarah Henry (June 10), I have been a bilingual teacher for 15 years. The great majority of those who immigrate here value English very much. Give them three to seven years and they will learn to speak English. Many will learn English in crowded evening English as a Second Language classes--after picking your food, cleaning your table at restaurants, hauling off your trash, fixing your car, cleaning the bedpans at your local hospital or cleaning your house.
Their children will learn, too. If they are lucky, they will maintain skills in their native language. That will increase their chance of landing a better job than that of their parents.
The majority of these immigrants will learn English, even with all the hardships they must endure as America’s underclass. Will you, advocates of English only, learn compassion?
LINDA J. DILLON
Ventura
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