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

[McGinnis, Scott]

From: ysaura bernal-enriquez [mailto:ysaura at unm.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, October 23, 2002 1:53 PM

The best argument for a second language for the kids in our future
dual-language Chicano/Mexicano studies-oriented school is that it is
their
ancestral language and with the revitalization of their language they
will
be able to communicate with their parents and grandparents and feel part
of
their communities, not alienated and devalued.
Y

> From:  ShepherdFam7 at aol.com
> Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2002 21:16:50 EDT
>
> Response:
>
> Having started a charter school for a dual (Spanish-English)
curriculum,
> I  feel the need for better arguments for a second language. My
arguments
> to  parents were that language benefits in 3 ways:
> socially--greater range of friends, contacts; careerwise--wider range
of
> jobs; academically--more avenues for success in school.
>
> I tried the "national interest" arguments but was advised to stick to
the
> personal benefits for individual students. The problem for most of us
is
> that
> we do not want to work hard enough to master a language. We want quick

> results for everything.
>
> We wrote the curriculum into the charter in hopes of shielding it from
> the  political winds surrounding language issues. No luck. Monolingual
> politics  governs all.
>
> Mike Shepherd
> Dallas