PUBLIC FORUM : READERS SUBMIT GRADES ON BILINGUAL EDUCATION.

Bilingual education is the political ploy of Hispanic bureaucrats. It ensures their power and the powerlessness of those they represent.

Their constituents, crippled by their lack of English, have no choice but to lean on their leaders. They trust the Hispanic representatives who have learned that power comes with knowledge, a fact they want to keep to themselves.

My father, a Mexican immigrant, and my mother are fluent in English and Spanish. Neither is a product of bilingual education; nor for that matter am I. When I started school at 6, the only English I knew was, ``Can I go to the bathroom?'' My mother had already anticipated what might have been my first embarrassing moment.

In school, we were required to speak English, broken or not. At home we spoke only Spanish. I do not recall having difficulty becoming fluent in English. Nor do I remember my years of elementary school as a nightmare.

A child will step up to the challenge of learning a new language if he is not humiliated in the process. A truly educated man understands this and will work toward the empowerment of his people.

The best thing that Hispanic politicians can do for the Hispanic community is to get behind the ``English for the Children'' initiative. Give them the power of knowledge - English.

- Esther Almaraz Simmons

Granada Hills

State and local boards of education, the teachers unions and parents of non-English speaking children know that the bilingual education system does not work.

The program is a disaster. The test scores and dropout rate are a testimonial to a program that simply does not work.

I say bilingual education for two generations, with dismal results, is plenty of evidence. The answer to this is to scale back the program to allow bilingual education only for those whose parents approve it.

The new superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, Ruben Zacarias, appeared shocked when he heard about the low test scores. My question is: Where has he been all these years when all this was going on?

If you think all of these powerful people in our education system really care about education, think again. It's all about money, money and more money.

- Michael C. Hines

West Hills

As a teacher in the Glendale Unified School District, I, too, have an opinion as to the efficacy of bilingual education.

However, when primary languages of students in Southern California classrooms include Korean, Urdu, Vietnamese, Armenian, Arabic and others, in addition to Spanish, the crucial issue is one of fair and equal education.

Opinion polls aside, until we can provide the option of primary language instruction and support to all students and their families, isn't the debate purely academic?

- Lisa Markowitz Biro

Burbank

There is not just one method of learning a second language - be it full immersion, or learning in a first language before translating into a second, or something in between. We need to assess the individual and decide which method is best. Before we throw out the baby with the bath water, let's rethink what is best for the students.

- Sharon Morrison

Topanga

If bilingual education in the Los Angeles Unified School District comes to a conclusion, and it is eventually shown that English-only is a better alternative for the multitude of these limited English-proficient students in Los Angeles, then so be it.

My only hope is that the change will be based on a clear understanding of the history and philosophy of bilingual education, the linguistic and cultural plight of the majority of these students, and not on misguided information such as we found in Tom McClintock's Oct. 7 letter to the Daily News, claiming a 95 percent transition rate of failure among students with limited proficiency in English.

It is this sort of crooked rhetoric that further convinces proponents of bilingual education that the current English-only initiative has little to do with the welfare of these students, and much more to do with the ``pro-American'' politics of language and race that have done more to divide this state than unite it.

- Julio Torres

North Hollywood

Foreign language-speaking communities should not be permitted to get the erroneous impression that most opponents of bilingual education, including me, are ethnocentrically bashing other languages or cultures.

The subtext message that English-immersion advocates convey must be quite to the contrary. Our true intentions should become very clear to all if we re-emphasize the importance of bilingual skills for our students, in today's world, by calling for an introduction of foreign-language instruction as a regular part of our elementary and junior high school curricula.

- Harvey Pearson

Los Angeles

Isn't it about time that we faced reality and dealt head-on with the likely culprits, rather than attempt to defend the indefensible? We are simply not educating our children properly to compete in an increasingly technological society. How, for example, do our educators explain the alarming numbers of high school graduates who have difficulty reading, writing and spelling?

- Robert Costes

West Hills

The initiative by multimillionaire Ron Unz, titled ``English language education for immigrant children,'' is grossly deceptive, xenophobic and pedagogically unsound.

The title leads one to believe that English is not being taught in schools where bilingual programs are utilized. It is crucial the public know that one of the prime objectives of bilingual programs is for pupils to become fluent English speakers, readers and writers.

Research clearly shows that English learners can catch up to their English-proficient peers in the content areas when provided access to the content in their primary language while they are learning English, even when they are tested in English.

I strongly urge voters to look beyond the smoke screen and become informed before signing this misleading initiative that will have a profound impact on the education of tens of thousands of California students.

- Sam Chaidez

President

Association of Mexican American 

Educators

Mission Hills

Keep your ears open in the fast-food places and in department stores where you see parents and children interacting. It seems to me that, almost without exception, Latino parents converse with their children in Spanish.

Is it possible that Latino children who are immersed in English in school will teach English to their parents at home? Seems like a worthwhile thing to try.

- John Pierson 

Thousand Oaks 

The reason that many of the children in our community do not do well in school is not linked to English or Spanish. Many do not really have any language as a foundation to build on when they enter school. They need to be remedially talked to, read to and listened to before their noses are shoved into a book or their eyes glued to a computer screen.

Those of our children whose main language exposure has come from kiddie TV, movies, video games and radio advertising, as well as amusement parks of all kinds, will not do well in the first-grade setting where all of a sudden the written word is the ticket to the school of success. Our language-cheated children need to be brought up to speed by listening to quality stories and re-telling them in their own words before they can be expected to decode something as complex and abstract as writing - in English or Spanish.

- Joan Jaekel

Encino

The best way to effect English fluency in non-English-speaking students is through a strong bilingual program. Primary language development is an effective, proven method of acquiring a second language. Studies have shown that immersion programs are effective with language-majority students who have strong first language skills. Immersion programs with language-minority students, however, have proved ineffective, as the primary language has not been developed.

Taxpayers are concerned about being burdened with additional expenses. As an advocate of bilingual education, I believe education will allow these students to become productive contributing citizens. In the long run, it is money well-spent.

- Irene Budworth

Bilingual teacher

Woodland Hills

Being taught self-esteem and intense pride in your family's native language and culture may feel great, but it's not going to pay the mortgage or put food on the table. Acquiring high levels of competency in English, math and science, particularly computer science, will.

Being bilingual can be a great advantage in this global economy. But like it or not, English is the language in which most folks do business in the United States.

If folks want their children educated in their native culture and language, they can do what other folks have done. Asian parents send their children to special classes to learn Japanese, Korean, etc. Jewish parents send their children to Hebrew school.

The more education a child gets, the better his chances are for a good life. But without the basic building blocks - English, math and science - all the classes on culture and self-esteem will mean nothing.

- Annie Caroline Schuler

West Hollywood 

Regarding ``Below average,'' Daily News, Oct 10, in which it was reported that L.A. schools scored lower than the national average:

The children were tested with two national exam versions: the Stanford 9 in English and the majority of Latino children in bilingual programs with the Aprenda exam in Spanish. In taking the national test in Spanish, the very idea that bilingual education is supposed to get Latino children proficient in English is totally defeated.

Although all students didn't do well overall, the Spanish-speaking test takers did better in some subjects than the English test takers, which proves that Latino children are as intelligent as children from other cultures whose native language is also not English. But those Latino children still can't speak, read or write English well.

Now why didn't they have versions of the test in other languages? Could it be that the ability of children from other cultures to read, write and speak English was not dumbed down with bilingual education?

- Hal Netkin

Van Nuys

I have a suggestion: Make it a no-exceptions requirement that, to graduate from any high school in Los Angeles, every student must read, write and speak at least two languages, with English being the first.

I think all our kids are smart enough to speak two languages, with English as the primary one.

All over the world, well-educated high schoolers are expected to learn two or more languages. Why not here in Southern California? Are our kids too stupid or too lazy for such a challenge? Or is it our Board of Education that's too stupid and too lazy?

- Hugh Jeffries

Burbank

One way to judge the merits of the ``English for the Children'' initiative is to find out what teachers think of it, since they are on the front lines in the debate over bilingual education.

Next month, the teachers union, United Teachers Los Angeles, will hold a referendum on whether teachers support teaching immigrant children in English and also whether the union should support the statewide initiative. Many teachers are paid extra, from $2,500 to $4,000 a year, to support the bilingual program, but we expect a strong yes vote nevertheless.

Teachers see firsthand the failure of native-language instruction and are tired of being bought off.

- Douglas Lasken

Woodland Hills

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Photo: The Rev. Alice Callaghan, director of Las Familias del Pueblo Community Center in Los Angeles, is a leading opponent of bilingual education.

Myung J. Chun/Daily News