Editorial wrong on English proficiency in N.M.

Immigrants learning language faster than before

I was deeply troubled by the Journal’s July 20 editorial “NM needs to ensure more Englishproficient students.” What made the editorial troubling was its distortion or omission of important facts and attribution of blame for a serious education problem.

The editorial mischaracterizes New Mexico’s English learner students as exclusively immigrants. Such a characterization is false, as in New Mexico we have many English learner students who are Native American, and others who are second, third, fourth or even fifth-generation Hispanics whose families have been denied equal and effective education by the state’s public schools.

New Mexico is still struggling to overcome the intergenerational impact of discrimination in public education. This legacy of discrimination was documented by the federal courts in the early 1970s in the case of Serna v. Portales. The systematic, systemic discrimination identified in Serna has been found in other N.M. schools and districts by authorities that include the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

The editorial board at the Journal bypassed the fact that today’s American immigrants are learning English at a faster rate than prior immigrants. Journal editors imply that prior immigrants learned English faster by singling out statements and data from the Center for Immigration Studies, an organization designated as part of the “nativist lobby” by the Southern Poverty Law Center, where responsible reporting would include reference to a variety of reputable research from organizations like the Pew Charitable Trust, Migration Policy Institute, U.S. universities, etc.

Most troubling was the editorial’s ascription of blame. “The problem lies, in large part, with parents who no longer emphasize the importance of learning English — either at home or in school. …”

We have worked with thousands of parents of English learner students throughout New Mexico — immigrant, native-born, of all racial and ethnic origins including Native Americans — and have yet to meet a single parent that did not prioritize the learning of English for their children. Where many value the development of their own family language, all consider learning English an educational priority.