Magnet Schools and Immigrants

I would like to suggest that the gifted and talented children who require bilingual education should be intelligent enough to learn English in one year and attend the magnet schools a year later. A recent article mentioned that there are 93 different languages spoken by the children in the Los Angeles school district; it is only practical that they should learn a common language.

I live in the most culturally diverse neighborhood in Los Angeles, and because I do not speak Spanish, Korean, Vietnamese or Chinese, I cannot read signs, communicate with neighbors, waitresses, store clerks, etc. I see very little incentive to learn English in this area, as there are foreign-language newspapers, radio and TV stations, businesses and services, as well as first-language education.

Our cultures and our peoples will benefit from speaking a common language, not breaking ourselves into pockets of ethnically and culturally closed communities. Educating children is the best way to blend our cultures and bring us together, and keeping children separate by language, or else claiming racism, is not fair to those of us who do not want to be divided by language, race or heritage.

JANIE MALLOY, Los Angeles