Our Stories

Ronald H. Barkmeyer, Sr.
Center for Employment Training
Instructor – AOS
Network System Administrator

October 27, 1997

Mr. Ron K. Unz
Chairman
One Nation/One California
555 Bryant St., # 371
Palo Alto, CA 94301

Dear Mr. Unz:

Enclosed are letters to the editor that I think you will find very interesting. As the cover letter to the editor explains, please forgive the lack of editing done to my students’ letters; I thought it would better illustrate the lack of command of the English language to which they are all subjected, mostly due to the bilingual education system as they encountered it.

I had the pleasure of visiting your web site, and was dismayed that most of the testimonials seen there were from people who had become very successful, with or without the bilingual education system. Nowhere could I find testimonials from very simple and poorly educated people as I often find in my classroom. It is fine to display the results of people who have persevered despite the system, but having some samples of the actual results of the programs could put your efforts in a better perspective.

I could add my own personal success stories to the list, such as having become a successful freelance flight instructor, with many students still employed by major airlines or having established from scratch a licensed Air Taxi and Air Medivac operation. All this while I was employed full time with a major airline, from which I subsequently retired after 23 years. I then Served with a national insurance company as a Registered Representative and District Agent for the next ten years and retired again in 1992. Now I am doing what I always loved to do on a full time basis – teach.

However, no amount of success accomplished by one single individual can ever erase, nor should it overshadow, the thousands of young people who are not successful at even the basics of what the education system is supposed to offer. Especially not when the education systems is the reason for their failures.

Thank you for your efforts to improve the system at least in one area — communication.

Sincerely,

Ron Barkmeyer



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