I don't believe one way is the right way, that one culture is superior. Which brings me to the corner of 37th Avenue and Zuni Street. The brick walls of an elementary school are rising here. It is a special school, one conceived and brought into life by a group of Mexican and Mexican-American women who were tired of seeing their children fall behind. They will reflect the neighborhood in all its diversity.
Half are to be fluent in English, half in Spanish.
The Montessori, dual-language program will honor both cultures. You see all the violence and anger of different groups against each other, whether it be Bosnia or Israel or Mexico. This school will bring people with prejudices and fears together to overcome that. It will not allow the school to open with a deficit. So some neighborhood mothers, the very people who fought to build this school, may not be able to send their children to it.