Friday, Dec. 21, 2007

December 21

Dear Editor:

Two letters to the editor on Friday [Dec. 14] expressed outrage that our schools are spending resources on Spanish-speaking students.

I wonder if the authors of those letters hire undocumented workers to landscape their yards and shop at companies like Wal-Mart that contract with companies that use illegal aliens.

The right-wing radio stations have created an imaginary problem by scaring people into thinking that anything other than English on the streets is the sound of our culture collapsing. Switzerland has been a democracy twice as long as our country and they have four official languages.

The root problem is the dropout rate. Regardless of the language spoken by a student, a dropout will cost our society much more than a few ESL teachers. Dropouts are more likely to have lower-paying jobs and are more likely to become criminals and become a burden to our criminal justice system.

It is much more cost-effective to spend resources on at-risk children to create successful adults. Short-sighted people complain and talk about how “disgusting” it is to teach immigrant children in the schools, or teach their own children a different language. What I find disgusting are people who complain, but propose no solutions.

Republicans had more than six years of control of Congress, the Supreme Court and the presidency and they solved nothing concerning illegal immigration. Next election, I’m voting for the Democrats who I think can solve problems without expressing hatred of other people.

— Mark Bauer, Colleyville