Good Afternoon Ford and Anse!

Obviously Anse you are from Texas and Ford is from Pittsburg! Personally in the Austin area, I think the bi-lingual program is not fully endorsed by AISD. My wife (non-hispanic) taught a bi-lingual class w/o the benefit of speaking Spanish. My obvious observation was 'shouldn't you have a command of the language before you teach ESL for Social Studies?" The answer was that she able to teach in English but the kids could reply in Spanish (she understands Spanish) IMHO this is 'goofy' The kids obviously understood English and were sharp. But then, there was the 'culture war' going on too. These kids were reluctant to fully embrace the Texas/US culture.

I agree with you Anse that every kids should know at least one other foreign language. My 'gringo' grandmother-in-law asked me why her great-grandchildren weren't learning Spanish. I had to laugh because 20 - 30 years, she would have been fussing about them learning Spanish. Times have changed. I am not that proficient with Spanish so I am teaching them as best as I can.

But back to the original thing you two were arguing about. Some people (ie white folk) think that all minorities all get along. There is so much division in this town it is destruction to the school system as well as the social fabric. Whew! Example, Reagan HS is highly mixed school - mostly Black and Hispanic. Both sides want a principal like themselves. But if a black principal is hired, the hispanics cry foul at everything he/she does, and vice versa. So the school suffers and the race wars continue...

just my observations...