Activist Groups Cause ‘White Flight’

* White flight has been defined as a reaction by narrow-minded bigots to remove their families from people of diverse ethnic backgrounds.

As a father of two children presently in the Los Angeles Unified School District and one more to enter in a few years, my experience has been greatly different.

A first day at kindergarten for my one son consisted of learning the days of the week in Spanish, even though I’m not sure he knew them in English. I have watched as Washington’s and Lincoln’s birthdays have passed with little fanfare, but not Cinco de Mayo or Mexican Independence Day.

My children have been thrown into bilingual Spanish classes time and again to prepare them for a future in a changing city. Their school educates immigrant children in their native Spanish language even though they speak perfect English. I was told right across the principal’s desk that their parents prefer that they be taught in their native tongue. As a grandson of immigrants who were forced to abandon their ethnic trappings, I find this unbelievable during these tight financial times.

Intercultural studies consist of no more than a competition among ethnic leaders to see who has the most gripes against the evil Europeans that settled in this land.

An attempt at magnet schools ran into a quota trap whereby some of the most affluent minorities have hopped aboard the special consideration bandwagon.

The Los Angeles school district, not unlike our state and federal governments with their caucuses, has been carved up into special-interest groups, all fighting for the biggest piece of the pie. When you are not part of any of these activist groups, you go to private school or resort to white flight.

ANTHONY T. KOSS

Encino