Los Angeles Times

Tuesday, October 21, 1997

Letter to the Editor

Bilingual Education Gets Little Support" (Oct. 15) neglected to point out that the results of The Times Poll showing support for all-English instruction for limited English proficient children are inconsistent with the results of all other polls on this topic. Previous polls have shown that the public supports the idea of using the students' native language for some of the school day to help them learn subject matter and develop literacy while they acquire English, as does published research.
     Why was this poll different? Perhaps because the "English for the Children" propaganda has been effective. Perhaps because only one question was asked on this issue, and responders were not given a choice of answers.
     STEPHEN KRASHEN
     Malibu