Yearly Archives: 2000

Support English Immersion Instead

Support English Immersion Instead by Ron Unz New York Times (Letters), December 25, 2000 I agree with the general sentiments of “Repairing Bilingual Education” (editorial, Dec. 22), but you are wrong to recommend reforming the system in New York City rather than … Continue reading

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NY Daily News: “Put English, and Kids, First”

With Florida chad-counting now fast becoming a fading memory, our nation’s major newspapers are faced with a newly vacated news hole to fill, only partially met by current speculation surrounding the rather bland and unsurprising Cabinet choices of the incoming … Continue reading

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Right Problem, Wrong Solution for NYC Schools

With the last of America’s many millions of mediagenic chad having now been eaten by the dustbin of history, the front page of today’s New York Times had space for a story on proposed changes in New York City’s bilingual … Continue reading

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Uncommon Knowledge Television – Bye Bye Bilingual

“Bye Bye Bilingual: Bilingual Education” with Peter Robinson, Ron Unz, and Patricia Gandara Uncommon Knowledge/Hoover Institution, Monday, September 15th, 2008, 26:48 Does bilingual education, teaching non-English speaking students academic subjects in their native language while they learn English, help students or … Continue reading

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Uncommon Knowledge Television – Taking the Initiative

“Taking the Initiative: The Initiative Process” with Bruce Cain and Ron Unz Uncommon Knowledge/Hoover Institution, December 13, 2000 Is the ballot initiative good or bad for American democracy? Today citizens in twenty-four states have the right to petition their fellow … Continue reading

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The Gift of English in New York

During recent weeks, we have seen both national candidates and their party supporters do their utmost to claim the right to preside over what will likely be a politically crippled Presidency, a deadlocked Congress, and perhaps now even an economic … Continue reading

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Dimpled Chads vs. English

Any individual seeking political office must take positions on dozens, even hundreds of issues upon which he has no deep knowledge or strong convictions. The true measure of a leader is best understood by examining those one or two issues … Continue reading

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San Francisco vs. Texas on English

As is well known, San Francisco is perhaps the most leftwing major city in America, with nearly all of its endless political battles being fought between different factions of very “progressive” Democrats and too few local Republicans or conservatives to … Continue reading

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Another English Landslide in Arizona

While Americans from sea to sea followed the see-sawing Presidential vote-totals and electoral counts, our Prop. 203 won a huge landslide in land- locked Arizona, capturing 63% of the vote. This twenty-six point margin of victory was further underscored by … Continue reading

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San Francisco vs. English

Earlier this week, the San Francisco Examiner carried a front-page story on the continuing efforts of the San Francisco Unified school district to avoid testing their potentially low- scoring immigrant students. San Francisco is now the only remaining school district … Continue reading

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English Sweeps NYC Series, Four-to-Zip

On Thursday, I participated in an Arizona State University debate on Prop. 203, bringing back fond memories of my California campaign for Prop. 227. Just as in 1998, there were hundreds of chanting student demonstrators who arrived after participating in … Continue reading

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A Giuliani Cop-Out?

Last week, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s Bilingual Education Task Force held public hearings in City Hall to consider the implications of a new report documenting the failure of those programs. Although numerous immigrant parents testified about their unhappiness with the Spanish-only … Continue reading

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English, Dan Rather, and Damn Lies in Arizona

On Tuesday, the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather carried another fine story on the outstanding educational results of California’s English immersion program under Prop. 227, and the strong prospects that Prop. 203 will establish a similar system in Arizona … Continue reading

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New York City vs. English

Although near-warfare in the Middle East, the final stages of the tightest Presidential race in forty years, and the likelihood of a “subway” World Series between the New York Yankees and the New York Mets have obviously dominated the front-pages … Continue reading

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English Comes to New York City

Last weekend, New York City’s huge mainstream liberal daily, The New York Daily News, published remarkable and consecutive back-to-back full-page editorials denouncing the educational disaster of twenty-five years of “bilingual education” and urging that City’s leaders replace the program with … Continue reading

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“Unfixing” English Immersion

As mentioned in a previous Note, the stubbornly pro-bilingual California Department of Education has harshly condemned the Oceanside District for establishing an English immersion program that failed to properly provide for the education needs of its Hispanic immigrant students; as … Continue reading

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English for the Children of New York?

Just two short months ago, the New York Times—America’s national newspaper of record—unleashed the current debate on bilingual education programs with a Page One lead story on California’s success with English immersion in the wake of Prop. 227. Now the … Continue reading

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Oceanside Attacked for Doubling Test Scores

In one of the more bizarre aftermaths to the passage of Prop. 227, California’s State Department of Education has released a report denouncing the Oceanside Unified district for its failure to provide proper educational services for limited-English students. The report … Continue reading

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Dishonest Campaign Reform is Worse Than None

Dishonest Campaign Reform is Worse Than None by Ron Unz Los Angeles Times, Sunday, October 1, 2000 For the first time in living memory, California’s entire diverse galaxy of campaign finance reform groups has united behind a single ballot measure campaign. Surprisingly, this reform … Continue reading

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The Asian-American Double Standard

The Asian-American Double Standard by Ron Unz Commentary (Letters), October 2000 Congratulations to Tamar Jacoby for her excellent article, one of the best on Asian-Americans I have read in a number of years. I would add only two points. First, although the … Continue reading

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Take Issue Television Report and Debate

Proposition 227 Television Report and Debate with Michael Krasny, Ron Unz, and Ruben Rosalez Take Issue, BAY TV, September 25, 2000, 31:33 Report on rising California 2000 test scores following Proposition 227; clips of Pat Stelwagen of Berryessa, Carol Mar … Continue reading

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English for the Families of Arizona

The front page of today’s Arizona Republic carried the great story below, revealing that the paper’s statewide poll now showed 74% of voters supporting Prop. 203. Opposition to the measure replacing bilingual education with sheltered English immersion was just 19%. … Continue reading

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“English” Leads Gov. Bush by 60 Points in Arizona Poll

As most of you know, Gov. George W. Bush has repeatedly declared his general support for so-called “bilingual education” programs; and his strong opposition to measures such as California’s Prop. 227 or Arizona’s Prop. 203, which would replace such programs … Continue reading

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We are shocked, shocked!

Two weeks ago, the front-page Commentary section of the Washington Post carried a powerful 1500 word essay by Superintendent Ken Noonan of Oceanside, explaining his changed views on bilingual education. Noonan discussed the dramatic rise in test scores since his … Continue reading

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Communists after the Fall of the Wall

Even years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall, there doubtless still remain a few stubborn and elderly ideologues who proclaim the virtues of East European state socialism, arguing that it was never given a fair chance to succeed. The … Continue reading

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