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Letters to the Editor
Bilingual education is a demeaning waste of money I am the oldest of eight children. Five of us were born in Mexico and brought here when I was 11 years old. We all spoke Spanish. My parents spoke no English at the time. There was no bilingual education when we were enrolled in school, and I am thankful for that. All of us were placed in English-speaking classes, and all of us learned English fast and earned good grades in school. We all now have good jobs (I've worked for the county for more than 16 years). I know children who have been enrolled in bilingual education who have not learned English in two years, at least not at the level my siblings and I attained in the same time period. In my humble opinion, bilingual education is demeaning, and a travesty and a waste of taxpayer money. JORGE RAMIREZ
Your editorial, "Bilingual ban goes too far " (Sept. 30), telling us of Ron Unz and his proposed initiative that would ban bilingual education from California's public schools, comes just as belatedly as the bill by Sen. Dede Alpert and Assemblyman Brooks Firestone to let local school districts decide this issue for themselves rather than at the state level. Nobody believes in local control more than I do; but for these legislators to come in at the 11th hour with a bill after the current session is over, when this controversy has been boiling for years without meaningful results, is rather strange. Where has this bill been hidden for these many years? LLOYD GIBBONS
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