13167: DeGraff: Unz proposal and the (mis-)education of Haitian kids (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Michel DeGraff <degraff@MIT.EDU>


Dear all --- specially those of you in Massachusetts,

If you are eligible, please remember to go out and vote this coming
Tuesday September 17 in the Massachusetts State Primaries.  This is
one vote where you can make a big difference for Haitian and other
immigrant children in the U.S.

The 9/17 polling date is when the "English only" petition of Ron Unz
is coming up for a state-wide vote.  This is ballot initiative number
01-11.  Through that referendum, Unz's goal is to get rid of bilingual
education programs in the public schools, as he did in California.  So
the 9/17 referendum results will substantially affect the future of
bilingual education in Massachusetts, which in turn will affect the
future of Creole-speaking Haitian kids in Massachusetts---and lots of
other kids who come to this country not speaking English.

One can find out much more about the Unz "English only" campaign and
its potential consequences via these web sites:

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/jwcrawford/
http://www.massenglishplus.org/

On some of the (arguable) advantages of growing up multilingual, also
check out the following sites:

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/253/science/Two_tongues_better_than_one+.shtml
http://www.eric.ed.gov/resources/parent/language.html

To bring it closer to "home": Some time ago, back in 1995, the New
York Times reported about Edwidge Danticat that

 "she has no doubt that without bilingual classes and a dedicated
 teacher named Raymond Dussek, she would have foundered".

Those bilingual classes were in 7th grade at Intermediate School
320 in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

Taking a stand on the Unz proposal in Massachusetts and elsewhere is
all about helping recently immigrated kids not founder upon entry into
the U.S. public-school system.

>From what I gather, the Unz anti-bilingual proposal has a close chance
of winning in Massachusetts.  But it's the actual numbers of the 9/17
votes that will make the difference, for or against.  So, please
forward this message to anyone you think should be interested.  And,
those who are eligible to vote in Massachusetts, please go out on
Tuesday 9/17 and vote early and vote often.  And make a difference!

                                 -michel.

___________________________________________________________________________
MIT Linguistics & Philosophy, 77 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge MA 02139-4307
degraff@MIT.EDU        http://web.mit.edu/linguistics/www/degraff.home.html
___________________________________________________________________________