Letter: Don’t force our kids to speak Spanish

Wednesday, July 11, 2001 | 9:26 a.m.

First of all I would like to commend Susan Huff for her brilliant letter on July 5 concerning dual language courses in the public schools.

It is ridiculous to force the children to learn a language that they will not be using in the future. What the district should force upon the children, who do not speak English when they enroll, is to have special courses to learn the language of these United States, which is English.

I would also like to suggest that when students enroll in the public schools and do not speak the language of this country, it only means that English is not spoken in their home. The cure for this is to force the parents to take special classes to learn the language of this country -- English.

One of our great presidents, Theodore Roosevelt, claimed that the downfall of this country would be when our country is forced to learn another language. I am a former veteran of World War II and never thought I would see the day that another language would be forced on our students.

FRED J. SCHRUMM

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