¿Habla Español? Your kids may soon

MOUNT VERNON — The school district is studying the possibility of converting one or more of its six elementary schools into dual language programs where the day is divided between lessons in Spanish and English for all students.

"Research says that's the best delivery model," Superintendent Mack Armstrong said. "Then the question is, Why wouldn't we do it?"

Armstrong's enthusiasm for the idea follows a visit to the district two weeks ago by Richard Gomez, bilingual education director for the state education department in Olympia.

In the last three years, Gomez has spearheaded efforts to create 17 dual language schools in the state, primarily in eastern Washington. In his previous job in Texas, he helped establish 50 of the schools.

The stereotype is true of a certain subclass --- but I've seen some pretty horrible treatment of elderly peasants in Mexico. Street children are a fast growing problem --- kids abandoned or so abused by their families that they choose to live on the street and never know where their next meal is coming. Hispanics in the SW --many who have been here for centuries --- but they're Americans have pretty strong family values in general.

Americans would be well-served to learn a second language. We are the only western people in the world without standard bilinguality. I don't support teaching all subjects in Spanish, but it would be very useful to mandate lessons for everyone starting at kindergarten. This is especially true because the earlier a child is exposed to a language, the easier it is for him to learn it.

You are talking about second-generation Mexicans - really, Americans born to Mexican immigrant parents.

I think it's interesting, too, to see you label "Americans born to Mexican immigrant parents" as second-generation Mexicans. Everyone else would call them first-generation Americans. According to your description, they will always be "Mexicans," of one generation or another.

Read my post carefully: "Really, Americans born to Mexican immigrant parents." I said exactly the opposite of that which you accuse me.

It is a fact (I can try to find the exact NewsMax story if you like) that the children of Mexican immigrants lack the same work ethic as their parents, prompting employers to go south of the border to bring in more hard-working first-generation immigrants.

Limbaugh made a brilliant point in his show today:

* Laws forbid employers from hiring illegals.
* Subsequently, higher-paid Americans drive up costs of goods.
* Higher costs provide strong impetus for technological innovation, creating demand for agricultural engineering work (automating grape harvesting, for example).
* Costs plummet as technology automates formerly manual tasks.
* Higher-skilled workers are required to engineer, improve, and maintain the equipment, thus creating new skilled, enriched jobs.

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