Bilingual Schools Are a Mistake

It was just last June that the superintendent of the Oxnard Unified High School District was congratulating himself, faculty members and representatives of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Ventura County. The occasion was the announcement of a newly formed bilingual department in the Oxnard schools to help the “limited English-proficient” student gain a “greater sense of self.”

Those of us who were unfortunate enough to be schooled in only the English language, who were denied the pageantry of Cinco de Mayo, who never studied Simon Bolivar or the science of the Aztecs, just went ahead gaining skills in dull old mathematics, mastering written and verbal skills in the language of our country and studying the history and government of the land of our citizenship, somehow muddled through as productive Americans.

Considering the recently revealed subnormal SAT scores accomplished by the products of the Oxnard school system one might suggest the superintendent of schools, et. al., focus a bit more on math and English and less on Pancho Villa, unless of course, garden tending and table waiting will create a “greater sense of self” for the students in the long run.

We law-abiding California taxpayers have a real stake in the productive education of our neighbors from the south. We so hope the superintendent, et al, do get the priorities right.

T. BRUCE GRAHAM

Port Hueneme