English program needs retooling

Geoff West

Let me preface what I’m about to write by stating, right up front,

that I really enjoy June Casagrande’s “A Word, Please” column on

these pages each week.

Her attempts to provide enlightenment to my aging gray matter

sometimes causes my head to ache, but I always come away feeling the

effort I made to grasp her point was worth the pain. Besides, she’s

very funny.

I read her essay on “subjunctive mood” -- several times, in fact

-- and I’m still reeling.

I then read the contributions of our own education odd couple,

Wendy Leece and Mark Gleason, on the question of “What would it take

to close the gap in schools?” and it got me thinking about this whole

English-learner issue a little more. I tried to imagine someone with

limited English skills attempting to understand Casagrande’s column.

Now, I readily admit to not being the sharpest arrow in the quiver

-- something many of you have probably suspected for some time. I’m a

product of the California public education system via the Los Angeles

Unified School District a half century ago.

However, I did have the advantage of being surrounded by people

who, for the most part, understood the English language. Even though

very few would be mistaken for Oxford scholars, all my school peers,

regardless of ethnic background, could handle the language.

As I read Leece and Gleason’s responses to the question of the

day, I came away very dissatisfied and frustrated. Leece’s

observation about transferring kids to private schools instead of

waiting for test scores to rise, while probably true, struck me as

very elitist.

Along with Gleason, I, too, bemoan the loss of the “shop” classes

I experienced as a youth. I learned, for example, how to read type

upside down and backward in print shop -- a skill I’ve never really

been able to put to use. Pity the child who won’t make a scissors

caddy for his or her mother in wood shop or a pair vice jaws in metal

shop or learn the fine art of tinkering with cars in auto shop.

However, Gleason’s apparent attempt to recommend segregation of

immigrant students onto an educational path that leads to a life of a

tradesman, “at a level above the bottom economic rung,” made me

angry.

I have nothing but respect for those among us who make a living as

electricians, plumbers, carpenters and in similar trades. I grew up

in a family of tradesmen, and many of my friends today make good

livings performing these essential jobs.

However, to shunt any group in our society onto a track that

purposely limits their educational opportunities is unconscionable

and smacks of the purest form of racism.

I am not saying Gleason is a racist, but what he suggests would

likely institutionalize the establishment of an insurmountable

barrier along the educational path for immigrant children. His

suggestion that “the University of California or Stanford” is well

beyond the reach of children in the immigrant community, so they

should be satisfied with much less, irks me. How do we know what

these children can accomplish if we don’t provide them with the tools

to learn?

I’m also distressed that Leece apparently sees a solution that

condones rampant transfers from troubled schools by those children

with the means to do so. This leaves behind those very students who

need the interaction with, and stimulation by, children with strong

English skills the most -- the English- learners. Leece’s advocacy of

immersion as a teaching method cannot succeed when the pond into

which the English-learners would be immersed is drained of the

English speakers. That leaves behind those children with limited

English skills, standing knee-deep in the puddle that remains.

The schools of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District are packed

with dedicated, skilled educators who, for the most part, try to do

their best to educate all the children of our area. They are

supported by groups of volunteers who assist as readers -- to help

the English-learners catch up. I’ve been told by people involved that

it’s not so much a question of developing proficiency in verbal

communication. The difficulty lies in reading and comprehension --

the cornerstones of all subsequent learning. At times, all these

efforts by all those hardworking people seem to be like trying to

climb a greased pole.

Just when you think you’re making progress, you feel yourself

slipping down that pole. This perception is exacerbated by the fact

that our system is not designed to accommodate large numbers of

English-learners joining the system throughout all grades.

It’s designed to accept children into kindergarten and begin

teaching them, progressively, the language and other skills, which

become the foundation of their lives. As they learn at each step, the

pace quickens at the next one and the next one -- like a train

gaining momentum. Those children with limited English skills who

attempt to jump aboard further down the track -- in grades 5 through

12, for example -- may find the pace too great and will simply be

left standing along the track. It’s not their fault; it’s the

system’s fault. Leece’s suggestion of an “English Learning Center”

for those students -- to help them get up to speed -- may be a good

first step. Obviously, traditional methods do not work with this

nontraditional problem.

There will be those in this community who will say we’re

addressing the wrong problem -- that if we stop the influx of

immigrants into our community, the problem of educating their

children would disappear. There are, in fact, those who will likely

try to accomplish that by eliminating funding for entities that

support the growing immigrant community. However, until there is a

change in the federal government’s position regarding immigrants

among us, we at the local level are left to do the best we can --

alone. As I’ve said before, this wave of immigrants is upon us and,

unless we find ways to harness the energy of that wave, we will be

drowned by it. Educating the children is the place to start.

* GEOFF WEST is a resident of Costa Mesa and a frequent

contributor to Forum.