English Only

I disagree with Gloria Matta Tuchman ("Official Language Is Best Means for Multiple Cultures to Flourish," Orange County Voices, Aug. 18). The late U.S. Sen. S.I. Hayakawa was wrong when, in 1981, he introduced a constitutional amendment to make English the official language of the United States. Hayakawa meant well, but as you might recall, he slept more often than not in the Senate chambers as they were debating the social issues of the day. English-only legislation is unnecessary and biased against Chicanos, especially in the Santa Ana Unified School District, with a 50,000-student population, of which 78% are Latino.

It began as a local story. Citing a state law requiring public officials to know English, a judge in Arizona ruled that city council candidate Alejandrina Cabrera should be barred from seeking public office because of her limited English skills. But the controversy over Cabrera's eligibility has reverberated nationally, stoking the debate over whether Spanish-speaking immigrants — and Spanish-speaking U.S. citizens such as Cabrera — are too slow to assimilate. That question is entwined with an issue that has surfaced in the Republican presidential campaign: whether English should be declared the official language of the United States.

Re "English Skills Still the Key in Test Scores," Aug. 15: We have 1.48 million limited-English students in California. Of those, only 169,929 are receiving English-language development and academic subject instruction in a language other than English. It has been two years since the other 1.31 million have been receiving instruction only in English. In a good number of districts, English-only instruction has taken place for years. Why are these children not fluent in English (in writing, speaking and reading)

Just don't block traffic Re "Political protesters may face jail time in L.A. " Feb. 11 Protesters have the right to march on sidewalks and public places so long as they do not block traffic or cause a public nuisance. The protesters in your article knew they were doing something against the law. Why are they now alarmed at the consequences? I am personally irritated when protesters block traffic for hours on Wilshire Boulevard. Why can't they get a permit and do it lawfully?

Re "Beware the Language Vigilantes," editorial, April 1: As usual, The Times subverts the point of a debate. This is not about a public employee being able to speak multiple languages. That is well and good. The "English-only" group, as you put it, is about having one language as a vehicle for laws, business and schooling. Make no mistake, we are a diverse culture, but the thread that holds any country together is its people's ability to communicate with each other. A look at Canada will show that its French-speaking province has caused considerable fracturing of that country's unity.

Learning more than one language is a 21st century skill. It provides students with economic opportunities across the globe and at home. Many students enter our schools fluent in a language other than English. They speak Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Farsi, Arabic, Khmer and dozens of other languages important in international trade. They come with a resource. Ideally, these students — more than 1.5 million in California who enter school speaking a language other than English — would gain English proficiency while enhancing their home language skills.

Re "English Skills Still the Key in Test Scores," Aug. 15: Congratulations on a well-written article about English-only classes. At the Westminster Senior Center, for quite a few years, first-, second- and third-graders come after school and get help with homework and other items relating to education. All children can be helped and this program proves it. GERALD KENNEDY Westminster

These days it seems like every issue of The Times has to include at least one gratuitous slap against that most despised foe of the politically correct, the straight white male. The June 9 Opinion section continued this tradition. Criticizing the FBI's new, loosened information-gathering rules, Christopher Pyle stated that having "English-only white guys" gathering intelligence on Muslims in the U.S. won't do any good. Were "English-only white guys" among the Minneapolis agents who raised the red flags about Zacarias Moussaoui?

Nearly 30% of Los Angeles Unified School District students placed in English language learning classes in early primary grades were still in the program when they started high school, increasing their chances of dropping out, according to a new study released Wednesday. More than half of those students were born in the United States and three-quarters had been in the school district since first grade, according to the report by the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute at USC. The findings raise questions about the teaching in the district's English language classes, whether students are staying in the program too long and what more educators should do for students who start school unable to speak English fluently.

Douglas Lasken (letter, Dec. 6) wrote that students who are "redesignated" have "finally earned the right to study English for the first time." This is totally incorrect. Students who enter a bilingual program begin studying English from day one, while receiving instruction in academic subjects in the language they know best. The amount of English instruction they receive increases gradually as their mastery of English improves. At some point, they receive nearly all of their academic instruction in English, taught in a technique called "sheltered English," which makes the material more comprehensible to the students.

For years it was a bogeyman for those discomfited by immigration, particularly from Mexico: The United States was evolving into two nations, only one of which would speak English. If it was ever true, which is doubtful, it isn't now. A 2007 report by the Pew Foundation found that, though only 23% of Latino immigrants spoke English very well, the figure rose to 88% for their adult children and 94% in the third generation. Time is the ally of assimilation, not segregation. That hasn't stopped the anxiety about non-English speakers, reflected in the applause Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo received during the 2008 campaign when he complained about having to "press 1 for English.

Speaking of English Re "English immersion," Opinion, July 11 Conservative America's paranoia regarding the English-only issue is really wearing thin. The ability to communicate in two or more languages is a sign of intellect, not political weakness. Yet everyone in the world knows that when one travels to the United States, one had better speak English. This fosters a mindset that we are too arrogant — or simply not bright enough — to learn one or two other languages.

Learning more than one language is a 21st century skill. It provides students with economic opportunities across the globe and at home. Many students enter our schools fluent in a language other than English. They speak Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Farsi, Arabic, Khmer and dozens of other languages important in international trade. They come with a resource. Ideally, these students — more than 1.5 million in California who enter school speaking a language other than English — would gain English proficiency while enhancing their home language skills.

Nearly 30% of Los Angeles Unified School District students placed in English language learning classes in early primary grades were still in the program when they started high school, increasing their chances of dropping out, according to a new study released Wednesday. More than half of those students were born in the United States and three-quarters had been in the school district since first grade, according to the report by the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute at USC. The findings raise questions about the teaching in the district's English language classes, whether students are staying in the program too long and what more educators should do for students who start school unable to speak English fluently.

Modern-day Nashville is a city that thrives as much on global trade as it does on its trademark twang. So for many business and government leaders, it was a great relief Thursday night when voters rejected a ballot measure that would have limited local government to conducting its business in English.

A government lawsuit against the Salvation Army has the House and Senate at loggerheads over whether to nullify a law that prohibits employers from firing people who don't speak English on the job. The fight illustrates the explosiveness of immigration as an issue in the 2008 elections. Republicans on Capitol Hill are pushing hard to protect employers who require their workers to speak English, but Democratic leaders have blocked the move despite narrow vote tallies in the GOP's favor.

Mayor Richard Riordan has just lost my support ("Riordan Backs Move to End Bilingual Classes," April 10). Obviously he has not done his homework on Prop. 227, nor on the facts facing the L.A. school district. Students whose primary language is not English represent 60% of L.A. students, 80% in kindergarten through third grade. True, there are shortcomings in public education, but bilingual education is part of the cure, not part of the disease. The last 20 years I've taught students whose primary language is not English.

Re "Voting Needs to Be a Big Deal Again," Voices, April 23: Lest Sue Pascoe's remarks about English-only voting materials fan the flames of those who support closing the borders, it might help to historicize the issue. Through the 19th century, naturalized citizens living in their close-knit ethnic enclaves in the Midwest and East Coast insisted that the language of their country of origin appear on the ballot slips. Indeed, the 1790 Naturalization Act did not require new citizens to become versed in the English language (although the act did demand that new citizens had to be white, a racial barrier that was finally lifted with a 1952 immigration act)

Retiree Sam Jones wakes up each day and puts his graying hair in a ponytail, a .45-caliber automatic on his right hip and the U.S. Constitution in his back pocket. He is a man who knows how to make a statement. So for Jones, and others like him in this desert outpost, it was a no-brainer when town leaders wanted to send a message to its growing immigrant community.

Recall petitions need to be printed only in English, even when some voters are not proficient in the language, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. The federal Voting Rights Act requires ballots and other government-produced election material to be published in other languages if more than 5% of the voters speak a different language. But in a case involving the Santa Ana Unified School District, the U.S.