My Experience

In reference to the article titled “Hmongs not well served by bilingual education” on page B1 of the Aug. 20 Sun-Star, I must admit that I do not know just what is the problem.

Over a number of years, I have lived and worked in six different foreign countries and not knowing the particular language may have been an inconvenience, but I do not recall it every being a problem except for the first year or so in Japan. (Now there’s a language to learn.) For one example: when I went to France, I worked in a police station in LeHavre. I knew no French, but by the end of my first day I knew how to fluently say: “Good Morning,” “Good Evening,” “How are you?” “Please,” “Thank you very much,” “What time is it?” and “good bye.”

For a second example, my wife and I went to Korea and adopted a seven-year-old girl who was already in the second grade. We took her out of Korea in February of 1969 and entered her in the first grade in an American school. She knew no English at that time and we had no one around who could speak Korean. And guess what? By June of 1969, she rated No. 7 in a class of about 20 all-American first graders. She went on to graduate from college with a high GPA and became a CPA. Sorry everyone, I don’t see a problem unless someone wants to ride on a bilingual excuse.


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