Starting Small

The Times had an intriguing little story (2/1/07) about a small, affluent community in Palo Alto, California. The district school board voted on -- and rejected -- a plan for a Mandarin immersion program for about 40 kindergarten and first grade students. A group of highly motivated parents wanted a "leg up" for the children, who would be facing an even more competitive and interactive world than the one they had to contend with. But many of the parents felt a little queasy about it, and I'm not sure why. The article briefly discussed the major objection: that only a few students would be given this privilege, and it was "undemocratic" to lock out the children of less affluent districts. One parent is quoted as saying "...a public school is supposed to be a public school."

Can't argue with that. And taxpayers are supposed to provide equal opportunities for all children. But they don't, and there is no law that can force them to. In the meantime, however, the world is forcing even the best and brightest of us to demonstrate excellence. The immersion program may have turned out to be a fiasco; we'll never know. But if it accomplished even a small measure of its goals, that works to the benefit of all children because it refines the working model for teaching foreign languages at the youngest age level. We don't have enough information about that yet.

As we say at Interpreters' Group: "Don't be afraid to lead the way!"