SACRAMENTO, CA -- The scare tactics have started. Shocked by polls showing overwhelming support, especially among Latinos, for businessman Ron Unz's ballot initiative to emphasize English instruction for limited-English-proficient (LEP) students, bilingual education advocates have started their propaganda war early. for example, in a recent Sacramento Bee op-ed, Thomas Saenz of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) warns that the initiative would eliminate bilingual education in favor of "an unproven technique that largely forbids teachers from speaking anything other than English to kids."

A couple of points. First, according to Boston University Professor Christine Rossell, the vast majority of methodologically sound studies has found bilingual education to be ineffective in improving students' English skills. Structured English immersion, however, does work. Say Prof. Rossell, "The [empirical] results . . . suggest that the ideal program for second language learners is 'structured immersion' where instruction is in English at a level the students can understand." Prof. Rossell says that this "structured" immersion should be of a short duration, perhaps a year or less.

Not coincidently, Article 2 of the initiative says LEP students "shall be educated through sheltered English immersion during a temporary transition period not normally intended to exceed a year." In other works, exactly as experts like Prof. Rossell recommend.

Further, MALDEF is wrong to charge that the Unz initiative will "eliminate" bilingual education. Article 3 of the initiative states that pro-bilingual-education parents apply for a waiver whereby "children may be transferred to classes where they are taught English and other subjects through bilingual education techniques or other generally recognized educational methodologies permitted by law." Further, in schools where 20 or more students in a given grade level receive such a waiver, the school "shall be required to offer such a class" or allow students to transfer to a school where such a class is offered.'

The truth is that the Unz initiative does not mandate a single teaching method (as some local-control Republicans fear). It does not force kids to "sink or swim" in English-spoken classes (as MALDEF contends). The reality is that the Unz initiative empowers parents to choose what they feel will work for their children. If they feel that their child needs bilingual education, their child will get it. What MALDEF and other bilingual education advocates fear is that parents will not choose bilingual education, but rather will choose what works, i.e., structured English immersion.

To be specific, MALDEF and its allies fear the parents of students like Tony Velasquez. Tony is a seven-year-old Los Angeles schoolboy who has twice been placed in bilingual education classes despite the fact that his parents objected both times. Says Ericka Velasquez, "If he has trouble reading, they should deal with that in English. I'm his parent, and I know what's best for him." And that's the difference between MALDEF and Ron Unz. MALDEF thinks it know what's best for parents like Ericka Velasquez. Mr. Unz believes that Ericka Velasquez knows what's best for her child.

--By Lance T. Izumi