Focus On English

One of the questions the League of Women Voters asked during the most recent Plano ISD School Board Election was:

As more students from non-English-speaking backgrounds enroll, what should Plano ISD do to facilitate their success at school?

It is common sense that:

English skills are necessary for success EVERYWHERE in the world (including Plano, Texas USA). ALL of our students need to FIRST become fluent in English – listening, speaking, reading, writing, and composition. This is necessary for their success, will reduce overall costs, and will help Plano stay competitive in the world market. Students should become fluent in English prior to mainstreaming. If this requires a student to spend an additional year or even two in school then that should be done to provide the highest probability of success. Individualized approaches integrated with traditional campuses will allow simultaneous socialization.

The reasons I made that statement begin with a very wise statement by Dwight D. Eisenhower:

"Urgent matters are seldom important and important matters are seldom urgent"

The current approach for English Language Learner (ELL), Limited English Proficiency (LEP), and English as a Second Language (ESL) students, all of whom may or may not lack English capabilities equal to their peers for various reasons, is to ATTEMPT to have them progress in ALL subjects as if they knew English as well as their peers. There is a wide range of English skills among these students including some that are much above their grade level in English. However, all of these students are coddled as if they were not able to learn English.

Therefore, the IMPORTANT matter of learning English is made to APPEAR to students to not be URGENT. However, the reality is that fully functional English is BOTH IMPORTANT and URGENT. Students with lower English language capabilities are doomed to be less successful than they would be with good English communications skills.

Our Higher Education, Employers, and the rest of the World reward good communicators in English and often exclude those without excellent English. The necessity of good English skills is obvious but ignored. The result is that many otherwise very capable people become part of a permanent underclass.

We need to stop this wasteful approach. However, the Plano "Independent" School District is not able to do this with the current laws in effect. Bureaucrats in Austin and Washington make many education decisions for all of us, which is sometimes necessary, but this is so important that it needs to be placed back into local control.

Taking our money is bad enough but then using that money to take away our freedom to do the right things for our students is even worse.