Call for response: Tipoff from Becky Kline RE: article in AMERICAN EDUCATOR

[McGinnis, Scott]

Good day, all,
 
The following an e-mail from Becky Kline, JNCL (Joint National Committee
for Languages) President, who is forwarding a message from Diana Scalera
- the latter name should be very familiar to you if you attended this
past weekend's conference or if you've read the 2000 ACTFL volume
TEACHING HERITAGE LANGUAGE LEARNERS: VOICES FROM THE CLASSROOM. I
heartily second Becky's suggestion that we spread the word to our
colleagues to write to the editors at AMERICAN EDUCATOR.
 
Best,
s.
 
Scott McGinnis
Executive Director
National Council of Organizations of Less Commonly Taught Languages
 
Associate, LCTLs
National Foreign Language Center
7100 Baltimore Avenue, Suite 410
College Park, MD 20740
Voice: 301-403-1750 x35       Fax: 301-403-1754
E-mail: smcginnis at nflc.org OR sm167 at umail.umd.edu
WWW: www.councilnet.org OR www.nflc.org
-----Original Message-----
From: nectfl [mailto:nectfl at dickinson.edu] 
Sent: Tuesday, October 22, 2002 10:46 AM
To: Yu-Lan Lin; SOLMEIGHT; McGinnis, Scott; Frank Mulhern; Mike
Ledgerwood; Diane Whitmore; Donald Reutershan; Jack Henderson; John
Grandin; John Webb; Kathleen Steers; Marjorie Haley; Marjorie Hall
Haley; Mikle Ledgerwood; Nancy Gadbois; Robert Terry; Sister Mary Helen
Kashuba; Steve Levy; Thomas Conner; cavenags; Sue; nectfl; Roberta
Lavine; Marco Curnen; Marco Curnen; Sharon Wilkinson; John David
Edwards; Nancy Zelasko; McGinnis, Scott; Nancy Rhodes; Jayne Abrate;
James Alatis; Elizabeth Welles; Donna Christian; Carol Klein; Marty
Abbott; Steve Levy; nectfl; Dan Davidson; Janis Jensen; Nancy McKee;
Patrick Raven; Phyllis Thompson; Helene Zimmer-Loew
Subject: [Fwd: Latest volume of American Educator]
 
I would strongly suggest that each of you obtain the article in
question, read it, and send your own comments along, if you possibly
can.  I realize how busy everyone is, but Diana's point is very well
taken. 
Thank you, in advance, for anything you can do.  I would recommend also
that you encourage non-FL colleagues and administrators (esp. district
superintendents and college/university deans or presidents) to write as
well. 
Becky 
Diana Scalera wrote: 
	 To All: 
	The Fall 2002 volume of the American Educator, the magazine of
the American Federation of Teachers, dedicated the entire magazine to
"celebrating the subjects teachers teach." SEE
http://www.aft.org/american_educator/ No where in this magazine is
foreign language mentioned. The subjects mentioned are: history,
science, art, literature and math. I have already sent a letter
requesting a retraction and error correction. It it very important that
as many people as possible address this issue. This magazine announces
the policies and priorities of the union that represents many teachers.
It is a great disservice to our profession that what we teach has no
weight. 
	I urge everyone to act on this as soon as possible. The email
address of the magazine is: amered at aft.org. Below is a copy of the
letter I sent. Please cc me any letters that you send. 
	Diana Scalera 
	To the Editor: 
	As a foreign language and heritage language teacher, I am deeply
offended by the ignorance displayed in the Fall 2002 issue of American
Educator. No where in this issue dedicated to celebrating the subjects
teachers teach is there mention of the value of foreign language
instruction. It is also a serious error to disregard physical education,
however, I will let the physical education teachers upbraid your staff
for that one. 
	As our country embarks on a dangerous war, it becomes even more
evident why the elimination of foreign language instruction is so
damaging to any civilization. If there were people who could truly
function diplomatically in other languages, could they have prevented
the current situation? 
	You quote philosophers about the importance of classical
education from the Middle Ages to the present--most people in the world
experience classical texts in the original languages in which they were
written. Can Americans only handle "classical lite?" 
	Type in "Benefits of Foreign Language Education" into any search
engine and you will get all the research and support any reasonable
person would need to understand the importance of foreign language
education to every child in this country. To have the educational
leadership of our union to be so off base, is quite worrisome. The
repercussions of such an error will be to reinforce the xenophobia that
is rampant in this country and further help to eliminate valuable
foreign language programs. A retraction and error correction is in
order. 
	Diana Scalera 
	High School for Environmental Studies    Baruch College 
	444 West 56th Street                                 Department
of Modern Languages 
	New York, New York 10009                      One Bernard Baruch
Way 
	(212) 262-8113 ex. 229                             New York, New
York 10010 
	fax: (212) 262-0702UFT                            PSC/CUNY 
	UFT
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