Debate Continues on English-Only Question

* Re “When English-Only Is a Case of Embarrassment-Only,” May 18 column by Agustin Gurza:

California has more Latino students than ever before, but many of these potential leaders can’t communicate with the employers, educators and lawmakers upon whom their futures depend.

Why? No hablan Ingles.

Middle-class ideological wars about language and culture may in fact keep people down. Promoters of bilingual education, like proponents of linguistic uniformity, seem to have lost sight of the real issue at stake: What is in the best interest of these kids?

Immigrants generally leave their native countries because something isn’t working. The economic factors which attracted my Irish, Finnish and Hungarian ancestors to America two generations back are drawing many poor Latin immigrants to this country.

For anyone in search of better employment and a more sophisticated subsistence, English fluency is a necessity; fluency in any other language is a luxury.

As a grader I consistently witnessed an inadequate level of English. When instructed to present their papers to someone for a critique and correction before submitting them, students complain that no one in their neighborhood is qualified to assist them.

What these kids and their households need, first and foremost, is a solid grasp of the native tongue of the country they live in, in order to secure diplomas and jobs.

JULIA ALANEN

Long Beach

* I read Agustin Gurza’s May 18 column with avid interest, as it struck a sonorous note with my experience as an immigrant from Mexico.

I came with my family at age 14 in 1949. When I started school in El Modena (Lincoln school, now a shopping center), I was not given particular help in learning English, but was placed with younger kids because of my lack of knowledge of the language.

I think the embarrassment of being placed below my level made me progress faster than usual, and I was soon promoted.

After a degree and a teaching credential at UCLA, followed by an MA at San Diego State, I retired three years ago after a rewarding 35-year career as a teacher of mathematics.

I can sympathize with those who lament the dismantling of bilingual education because it alienates people from their or their parents’ culture and traditions.

We also promote a decline in self-esteem by forcing children to conform to “English-only” norms, essentially dictating that their first language is second-rate.

While no one would argue that it is not necessary for immigrants’ children to learn English, consideration should be given to the much richer experience of learning the native language in more than just a shallow manner.

A person’s self-worth multiplies when he has mastered two or more languages. Promoting mastery of a second or third language should be encouraged.

Immigrant children already possess a valuable asset in their native tongue. Rather than stifle it, we should nurture and promote it along with building competence in English for their everyday survival.

FROYLAN TISCARENO

Irvine

* After reading Gurza’s diatribe on “losing one’s mother tongue,” I thought for a second I’d received La Opinion instead of The Times.

Many of Gurza’s previous columns have caused me some concern, but his latest about a politician not being totally bilingual was really something.

I’m a first-generation American, born and raised in East Los Angeles, and attended a multicultural school system. I spoke my parents’ language more fluently than English prior to my first day in class.

As the years passed, I also became a little “rusty” in my mother tongue. What Gurza forgets is that an immigrant’s key to success in any country is becoming fluent in the new country’s language.

Other Gurza works insist that the current educational system is “stealing” the culture of the newcomers to our country. Maybe my “old country” grammar is shot, but stealing my culture? Give me a break!

His views on English as a second language and Proposition 227 are skewed beyond belief. The young children of all nationalities are learning English at an astounding rate.

Immigrants have traditionally added new strength and vitality to our nation. I can’t blame anyone for wanting to live in our country, but we are a nation of laws. It’s apparent that Gurza can’t handle that.

C. BUDDY CARLS

Huntington Beach

* Agustin Gurza is embarrassed that Latino lawmakers born in the United States can’t speak Spanish.

I disagree with Gurza again.

I am proud that these second- and third-generation American Latinos speak English as well as they do. I am sure that their successes are partly due to the fact that they have mastered the language of the country in which they live, English, like millions of Italian, German, Chinese and countless other immigrants from all over the world.

The only “minority” group that continues to demand bilingual education for our children is Latinos.

Gurza forgets that Proposition 227 won with over 60% of the vote. It is understandable that Latinos will always have a soft spot in their hearts for their native countries.

But since they chose to come to America, the sooner they learn to assimilate, and adopt the values and language of their new home, the faster they too will find unbounded prosperity in America.

FRANCIS T. CONCANNON

Irvine

* Bilingual education has not produced bilingual children. It produced children unable to communicate in English.

The knowledge of English for all of our citizens has to be our primary goal, since language is really the only thing that unifies this country.

Diversity may have its merits, but first we have to be unified as a nation. Learning English is the most important part of the assimilation process.

I am a naturalized American. Even though I have not forgotten my native language, I consider that fact much less important than the fact that I have learned the language of my adoptive country.

I believe that Agustin Gurza agrees with me regarding the importance of learning English. I agree with him regarding the merits of learning a second language, as long as the acquisition of English is in no way jeopardized.

With our so-called “bilingual education” it was.

DARIE S. REINHARDT

Orange

* Agustin Gurza has it exactly right in his May 18 column. All the attention on bilingual education has been backward.

Our goal should be to see that all students become bilingual, rather than force those who are bilingual to lose their language.

A friend of mine from Madrid attended a Catholic school where classes were conducted in French. All students also had to take classes in Spanish grammar and in English.

By middle school she and all her classmates were trilingual, and then most of them picked up courses in Italian in high school.

Because they started young, even the students of average intelligence were able to become trilingual and even fluent in four languages.

It reminds me of an old joke: What do you call someone who speaks three languages? Trilingual. What do you call someone who speaks two languages? Bilingual. What do you call someone who speaks only one language? American.

RONALD STEINER

Orange