LETTERS : TAKE BITE OUT CRIME, DON'T COMPLAIN ABOUT IT.

More than a few Antelope Valley residents, myself included, take exception to the May 31 article that runs down the integrity of our area with blaring, enlarged print: ``Desert no haven for families; A.V. plagued by crime.''

This 2-year-old crime story is not journalism but a sick attempt at tabloid writing.

Our desert community is no worse than any other area our size across the country. I have heartfelt sympathy for the Suluki family's loss and see this article as pouring salt in an open wound.

If the Daily News would spend time touting the good that happens today in our valley, instead of a 2-year-old very unfortunate incident, perhaps we would attract a better class of persons and law-abiding citizens.

I am positive that there are a multitude of people who know little of our rich heritage and the ongoing events in business, entertainment, industry and the arts that enhance life here.

A resident since 1948, I have seen this area grow like Topsy. We have had growing pains, but no more than any other town in the country.

To the skeptics I say, come to our fair in the fall, take in a ballgame, see a stage play, visit the art gallery, attend our college and help take a bite out of crime instead of complaining about it.

Freddie Steese

Lancaster

Upbringing of kids needs involvement

I have talked with thousands of teen-agers throughout California, and I have discovered that the vast majority of youngsters can be reached.

For the most part many are suffering from a lack of attention and proper nurturing. That is, many have been left to the four corners of the wind in their development.

Some parents assume as long as children have a square meal, a roof over their heads and they're off to school everything will be fine and dandy.

The assumption is as long as the child has plenty of toys (gadgets, games and material things) to amuse them they will grow up to become well-adjusted and law-abiding citizens.

This is a grave mistake, because a child is not like a cow, a horse, a chicken or a dog. That is, animals when left alone will instinctively behave according to the pattern of that particular species.

However, when it comes to the human being, we have several dimensions to our growth and development. We are complete and yet incomplete when we come from the wombs of our mothers.

Physically, when we arrive we are immediately introduced to a new womb (surroundings) which has become known as the home environment, then there is the womb of community (social environment, school, church, mosque, synagogues, YMCA, etc.). All these functions serve to mold and shape our personalities.

If there is no conscious awareness or hands-on approach to the direction of the child's development, he is left to feed on whatever is in the air (outer environment), i.e. gangster lifestyle, drug culture, psychics, poets, devil-worshippers, cults, MTV and so on.

If we are unconscious that when we come forth as babies our minds are like clay that can be shaped in any form we desire, then we are sure to lose that life to the forces that be.

The child is sure to become confused, and haphazard behavior is sure to follow. I am sure we've all seen the multicolored hair styles, entire bodies covered with tattoos and absurd writings, trousers on backward and oversized, people drugged out claiming that they're at their best when high.

This behavior can be traced back in one form or another to one of the listed components, i.e., upbringing (home life, Hollywood (MTV), social life (peers, neighbors), religion (religious orientation or lack of it).

Everything we hear, see, feel and come in contact with has an effect on us to some degree, whether negative or positive. I bring these factors to the surface to point out that what we are going through didn't just happen or come about out of nowhere.

All that we are witnessing came out of the hearts and minds of people

We have a problem that either stems from the culture or from those with no concept of culture or how we develop as human beings.

Abdul Majeed Askia

Palmdale

Askia is a United Community Action Network volunteer and frequent speaker at Antelope Valley schools.

Bilingual children have upper hand

Two statements in the June 4 story on Proposition 227 in the Antelope Valley section have prompted me to write this letter.

As a retired Los Angeles Unified School District teacher who taught in a bilingual Spanish, bilingual Korean year-round elementary school, I have the experience to comment.

First, the comparison between high school students learning a foreign language, presumably one period a day, with foreign-speaking students being immersed daylong in English for an entire school year, is utterly stupid.

The former are learning in a vacuum. With no opportunity to practice, knowledge fades. Conversely, the foreign-speaking students are surrounded by English daily, in or out of school. They have every opportunity in the world to practice. I once met a Vietnamese woman who spoke more than adequate English. She told me she learned by watching television.

It would be a good idea if bilingual individuals could be used to persuade non-English-speaking parents the advantages of learning English.

I taught a fifth-grade girl, whose brother was in the sixth grade, both of whom were born in Los Angeles. The girl's Latino father, who spoke good English, came in for the parent conference at report card time. He complained that his wife refused to learn English because she could get by in Spanish.

Palmdale School District Superintendent Nancy Smith's concern about handling limited-English-proficient students within the regular classroom really hit a nerve.

I taught a combined fourth- and fifth-grade class, with students ranging from gifted to educationally handicapped. I admit using one grade level science and social studies texts, but taught the appropriate level in English, spelling and math. Fortunately, four rooms teamed for reading.

I should like to ask Superintendent Smith how many perfect classrooms does Palmdale have where all the fluent English-speaking students are ``moving at the same rate?'' How much easier teaching must be in that situation.

Blanche Tull

Lancaster

School term switch can disrupt lives

Regarding the article ``2 schools returning to 9-month calendar,'' (June 6, 1998): The decision to shift school schedules and boundaries sounds as if it was made casually. I have to wonder if those responsible for the changes realize the chaos such adjustments can cause families.

Experiencing these changes when my own children were in school, I well remember the ramifications they cause. One month I had three children, happily and successfully attending a school just a few blocks from home.

I was able to assist as a teacher's helper in the classrooms. The next month my children were assigned to schools great distances from home. I could no longer work as a teacher's assistant, and my children were no longer happy in school.

The article mentions evaluations for boundaries and attendance schedules will be made yearly. I am not an expert, but I think most would agree, two areas young children most need to feel secure in are home and school. Every effort should be made to assure families that school changes will not be made unless for the most crucial reasons.

Marilyn Dalrymple

Lancaster