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Derek's Story
Kerry Riffel, Lansdale, PA
Thursday, June 4, 1998
My husband and I were watching the "Today" show a few days ago
when they were debating Proposition 227. We had no idea that this was taking
place in California but are extremely happy that the proposal passed. My
husband was married to a Mexican woman and they now have a nine year old
boy, Derek. For eight years, Derek has lived in San Diego with his mother
who speaks only Spanish in the home. My husband has always done his share
to take care of Derek and provide him with the things all little boys need
to grow and flourish. We became very distressed last year when Derek, in
third grade at a "bilingual" public school in San Diego, could
not yet read, write or barely speak English. It was plainly obvious that
this bilingual school was teaching only in Spanish. After months of discussion,
Derek's mother decided to send him to Pennsylvania to live with us for one
school year so we could help him learn English.
We enrolled Derek into fourth grade in the public school system where we
live. To say Derek struggled is an understatement. He went through everything
from depression, resentment, anger, frustration and a strong lack of self-confidence.
Fortunately, he had a teacher and an ESL tutor willing to help him every
step of the way and three parents unwilling to give up on him. We are happy
to see him now flourishing in the English language. He is reading and comprehending
English at or above grade level, testing above his peers in many areas,
all in nine months. Our fear now is sending him back to San Diego. We have
little confidence in the school system there to continue teaching him in
English and we are afraid that all the work we have done this year will
be lost.
From our story, it is plain to see that teaching these children English
is not as difficult as the opponents would make it seem. The bilingual system
only hurts the children and does absolutely nothing to prepare them for
further education. At the age of nine, Derek wants to be either a NBA basketball
star, a chemist, a doctor or an artist. All of those things (with the exception
of the basketball star!) will be very difficult for him if he does not continue
to learn in English. We want him to be able to be whatever he wants, but
he can not do that if the schools in California continue with bilingual
education.
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