13202: DeGraff: Errata re Unz anti-bilingual initiative in Massachusetts (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Michel DeGraff <degraff@MIT.EDU>


Dear all --- specially those of you in Massachusetts,

First of all, my apologies for a mistake in my previous post (re: the
Unz ballot initiative against bilingual education in Massachusetts).

The ballot petition is slated for vote, not today September 17 (State
Primaries), but on TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5TH (GENERAL STATE ELECTIONS).
Going out to vote is never wasted time, but I do apologize for the
false alert re the voting date for the Unz initiative.

The good news is that there is more time for concerned voters to get
educated about the pros and cons of the initiative (and other election
issues) and to make an informed choice.

In this vein, another useful web page to consult is

http://www.stanford.edu/~hakuta/

The 11/5 polling date also gives more time to those of us who are not
yet registered to vote in the General Elections.  The last day to
register is WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 16.

One web page with useful information re Massachusetts elections is:

http://www.boston.com/politics/state/keydates.htm

Please forward this post (and my previous one, see copy below) to
anyone who should be concerned about the fate of bilingual education
in Massachusetts and elsewhere.

Thank you,

                                 -michel.
___________________________________________________________________________
MIT Linguistics & Philosophy, 77 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge MA 02139-4307
degraff@MIT.EDU        http://web.mit.edu/linguistics/www/degraff.home.html
___________________________________________________________________________


------- Forwarded Message

Date: Fri, 13 Sep 2002 08:10:25 -0500
From: Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>
To: Haiti mailing list <haiti@lists.webster.edu>
Subject: 13167:  DeGraff: Unz proposal and the (mis-)education of Haitian
	 kids (fwd)


From: Michel DeGraff <degraff@MIT.EDU>


Dear all --- specially those of you in Massachusetts,

If you are eligible, please remember to go out and vote this coming
Tuesday September 17 in the Massachusetts State Primaries.  This is
one vote where you can make a big difference for Haitian and other
immigrant children in the U.S.

The 9/17 polling date is when the "English only" petition of Ron Unz
is coming up for a state-wide vote.  This is ballot initiative number
01-11.  Through that referendum, Unz's goal is to get rid of bilingual
education programs in the public schools, as he did in California.  So
the 9/17 referendum results will substantially affect the future of
bilingual education in Massachusetts, which in turn will affect the
future of Creole-speaking Haitian kids in Massachusetts---and lots of
other kids who come to this country not speaking English.

One can find out much more about the Unz "English only" campaign and
its potential consequences via these web sites:

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/jwcrawford/
http://www.massenglishplus.org/

On some of the (arguable) advantages of growing up multilingual, also
check out the following sites:

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/253/science/Two_tongues_better_than_one+.shtml
http://www.eric.ed.gov/resources/parent/language.html

To bring it closer to "home": Some time ago, back in 1995, the New
York Times reported about Edwidge Danticat that

 "she has no doubt that without bilingual classes and a dedicated
 teacher named Raymond Dussek, she would have foundered".

Those bilingual classes were in 7th grade at Intermediate School
320 in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

Taking a stand on the Unz proposal in Massachusetts and elsewhere is
all about helping recently immigrated kids not founder upon entry into
the U.S. public-school system.

>From what I gather, the Unz anti-bilingual proposal has a close chance
of winning in Massachusetts.  But it's the actual numbers of the 9/17
votes that will make the difference, for or against.  So, please
forward this message to anyone you think should be interested.  And,
those who are eligible to vote in Massachusetts, please go out on
Tuesday 9/17 and vote early and vote often.  And make a difference!

                                 -michel.

___________________________________________________________________________
MIT Linguistics & Philosophy, 77 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge MA 02139-4307
degraff@MIT.EDU        http://web.mit.edu/linguistics/www/degraff.home.html
___________________________________________________________________________


------- End of Forwarded Message