BY CRAIG HONTS
LOS ANGELES - Hundreds of students at several high schools in this region walked out of school to protest the passage of Proposition 227, the ballot measure that bans bilingual education in public schools in California. On June 5 a spirited group of 250 students from Belmont High School here left their classrooms and marched downtown to City Hall to protest the attack on bilingual education. The police handcuffed and took away three young women.

A week later 500 students walked out at Belmont, Roosevelt, and Wilson high schools. The students converged on the downtown Federal Building. The actions occurred as a Federal Judge Charles Legge set July 15 for hearing oral arguments in the legal challenge to Proposition 227, which was filed by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

Patrick Fernández, a senior at Belmont who came to the United States from El Salvador four years ago, said, "Ninety percent of the students at Belmont High oppose Proposition 227. Many of us come from other countries and want to learn English. But it's not so easy to do in one year, which is what Proposition 227 will force on us."

The big majority of students interviewed by the Militant outside Belmont on June 11-12 expressed opposition to Proposition 227. One student who did support Proposition 227 was Alfredo Leon, a senior who was born in the United States and grew up speaking English. "Most students here oppose Proposition 227. But if you're going to come to the U.S., you need to learn English as a priority. Having one year is hard, but it will force students to learn the language instead of just coasting through school without ever bothering to learn it, which is what a lot of students do now." Silvio Hernández, a sophomore who immigrated from Nicaragua in 1995, disagreed. "Proposition 227 is really bad. All the people who come here from other countries won't understand what is being said in school. Many are going to drop out."

Walkouts also took place June 5 at three high schools in the area of Oxnard, north of here. Some 60 Channel Islands High School students marched out of class to a park three miles away, where they held a rally. At Rio Mesa High, 250 students held a rally in the school cafeteria. At Hueneme High School 70 students rallied on the campus. At Rio Mesa High School, 135 students walked out of class again June 8.

Pre-election polls had reported that Latinos in California were overwhelmingly in favor of Proposition 227. On Oct. 15, 1997 the Los Angeles Times stated, "Support [for Prop 227] was in the 75 percent to 80 percent range virtually across the board, among all races, income levels and age groups. Latino voters surveyed favored the initiative by a slightly higher margin-84 percent to 16 percent - than whites, at 80 percent to 18 percent." On election day, the Times reported that "support for Proposition 227 remained rock-solid and in fact grew in the Latino community, according to [a] poll, which showed voters backing the initiative by a 63 percent-23 percent margin."

The following day, as the voting results came in, the Times reported that across the state, "Latinos polled Tuesday said they opposed the initiative by a margin of 2 to 1, many describing it as discriminatory."

The 37 percent of Latinos in California who voted in favor of the anti-bilingual education measure was higher than the 23 percent of Latinos who in 1994 voted for Proposition 187, a measure designed to bar undocumented immigrants from public education and health care. Advocates of Proposition 227, who included a number of prominent Latino professional figures, played on the real concerns of many people over the inadequacies of the bilingual education programs in California schools.

In the Los Angeles Unified School District, where 44 percent of the state's 680,000 students with limited English skills are reported to be enrolled, around 1,000 teachers have signed pledges to refuse to comply with Proposition 227.

Craig Honts is a member of United Transportation Union Local 1674.  
 
 
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