Bilingual Education

The benefits of knowing two or more languages were eloquently expressed by students from Valley Alternative Magnet School (‘2 Languages Are Better Than 1,” May 10). But the students’ endorsement of bilingual education, as practiced in the rest of Los Angeles Unified School District, showed a misunderstanding of the nature of this program, especially in the lower grades. According to LAUSD’s bilingual master plan, Spanish-speaking children in grades K-4 may not be taught any English grammar, phonics, or academic material until they pass a very difficult test in Spanish. Thus, what we call bilingual education actually works against bilingualism, by keeping the child in the native language past the years when second language acquisition is easiest. Proposition 227 would substitute English for the native language in the earliest grades. Coupled with native-language use in the community, this approach offers a path for a multilingual society with one common language, English.

DOUG LASKEN, Woodland Hills