Special certification is irrelevant indoctrination
Gloria Matta Tuchman
The Crosscultural Language and Academic Development certification for teachers (CLAD) that Santa Ana School District is mandating 700 teachers must take, is irrelevant indoctrination for bilingual education ["Quality of teaching improves with training," Letters, March 17]. I took and paid for the training myself. In 35 years of teaching, I have never been opposed to updating my teaching skills and have found that the quality of teaching does improve with relevant training. English for Children sent out a public notice on Jan. 20, 1999 that stated: "It has come to our attention that various school districts are suggesting that the voter-approved Prop. 227 requires credentialed teachers to obtain a CLAD, BCLAD or SDAIE certificate. "As the sponsoring organization for Prop. 227, we wish to clarify this presumption. Prop. 227 instituted the practice of bilingual education with structured English immersion as the method for teaching Limited English Proficient children. Our initiative does not mandate or suggest any specific credential. If anything, the passage of Prop. 227 would lessen the need to obtain a CLAD, BCLAD, or SDAIE certificate. Article 2 Section 306 (c) of Prop. 227 does require that any teaching personnel shall possess 'a good knowledge of the English language.' " In the business industry, if a program or product has been a failure, then it is revised or abandoned. After 30 years of bilingual education in this nation, it has been a failure and its purpose -- to teach English -- is not occurring. The people of California overwhelmingly voted to eliminate mandated bilingual education, but the "sacred cow" won't die. It is the multibillion-dollar scam of the century. Taxpayers' dollars are being wasted. The CTA teachers union, the State Department of Education and the Commission on Teacher Credentialing must help districts focus on improving teaching techniques in English so that test scores improve, rather than creating a cadre of bilingual teachers and requiring needless certificates. Firing or threatening experienced teachers at a time when there is a shortage is ludicrous. A valid California Teaching Credential seems to be worthless in this state. The taxpayers in the state of California should be outraged. Ms. Tuchman is a first-grade teacher, was co-author of Prop. 227 and is running Congress against Loretta Sanchez in the 46th District. |