While the actual subject of this post seems to have gone far off topic, I feel that I must respond to the people calling out bilingual education as a bad choice.
I am a graduate of the Amigos school. I attended from kindergarden through 8th grade. I was valedictorian of the first official class of Amigos as a school rather than a subset program of the Kennedy. After that, I went on to Boston Latin School, one of the top high schools in the country, where was in the top 15% of the class. I am now a student at Bennington College, a school celebrated for its innovation in the dance and arts world, and I am doing very well there with a 3.85 GPA. If you had any doubt that Amigos is able to prepare its students for life and future education, I am here to erase that doubt. I am proof that it is entirely capable of preparing students just as well as any other K-8 school.
I am grateful to Amigos for its wonderful program.
Allowing native speakers of Spanish to retain their first language without diminishing the importance of English in the USA is what the Amigos school does best. It also allowed me, a native English speaker, to learn a second language from age 5. In a world that is becoming ever more connected, being multi-lingual is once of the most valuable skills out there.
To Ms. Imrie: You wanted to hear from an Amigos graduate, so here I am. I am sad to hear that you voted against my school. Every student in the school at the time went to the hearing that year to fight for our school's right to exist. I was there, supporting bilingual education. Amigos provided me with an opportunity that is incredibly rare in our country--the ability to be fluently bilingual before high school.
I am quite aware that many so-called "bilingual" schools in this country do not in fact succeed in teaching their students English, and yes, those schools should be made to reform. Those schools have no right to claim to be bilingual. And yes, those schools minimalize the importance of English, and ultimately hold their students back. Amigos is not one of those schools.
At Amigos, every single student is able to speak both English and Spanish by graduation. Yes, every single student in my class was bilingual. This is an amazing feat.
As to the original content of this posting--clearly the comment was intended to be humorous, but for anyone with an attachment to the Amigos school it is nothing but a horrible insult. It was a joke in poor taste. The author of the comment clearly does not know that the Amigos school is an honest to goodness bilingual school, with a strong educational program. In that sense I agree with the original author of this post that it was a disgusting comment. I hope next time Mr. Baker actually takes time to do some research before dismissing all forms of bilingual education out of hand.
To Mr. Jaquith, I do believe your post is an overreaction, but I appreciate your sentiment.
While the actual subject of this post seems to have gone far off topic, I feel that I must respond to the people calling out bilingual education as a bad choice.
I am a graduate of the Amigos school. I attended from kindergarden through 8th grade. I was valedictorian of the first official class of Amigos as a school rather than a subset program of the Kennedy. After that, I went on to Boston Latin School, one of the top high schools in the country, where was in the top 15% of the class. I am now a student at Bennington College, a school celebrated for its innovation in the dance and arts world, and I am doing very well there with a 3.85 GPA. If you had any doubt that Amigos is able to prepare its students for life and future education, I am here to erase that doubt. I am proof that it is entirely capable of preparing students just as well as any other K-8 school.
I am grateful to Amigos for its wonderful program.
Allowing native speakers of Spanish to retain their first language without diminishing the importance of English in the USA is what the Amigos school does best. It also allowed me, a native English speaker, to learn a second language from age 5. In a world that is becoming ever more connected, being multi-lingual is once of the most valuable skills out there.
To Ms. Imrie: You wanted to hear from an Amigos graduate, so here I am. I am sad to hear that you voted against my school. Every student in the school at the time went to the hearing that year to fight for our school's right to exist. I was there, supporting bilingual education. Amigos provided me with an opportunity that is incredibly rare in our country--the ability to be fluently bilingual before high school.
I am quite aware that many so-called "bilingual" schools in this country do not in fact succeed in teaching their students English, and yes, those schools should be made to reform. Those schools have no right to claim to be bilingual. And yes, those schools minimalize the importance of English, and ultimately hold their students back. Amigos is not one of those schools.
At Amigos, every single student is able to speak both English and Spanish by graduation. Yes, every single student in my class was bilingual. This is an amazing feat.
As to the original content of this posting--clearly the comment was intended to be humorous, but for anyone with an attachment to the Amigos school it is nothing but a horrible insult. It was a joke in poor taste. The author of the comment clearly does not know that the Amigos school is an honest to goodness bilingual school, with a strong educational program. In that sense I agree with the original author of this post that it was a disgusting comment. I hope next time Mr. Baker actually takes time to do some research before dismissing all forms of bilingual education out of hand.
To Mr. Jaquith, I do believe your post is an overreaction, but I appreciate your sentiment.