In Los Angeles, the shortfall has been so severe that the city has granted emergency credentials to people whose only claim to a classroom lectern is their ability to speak Spanish. Latino parents know that placing their children in English-language classes will not cure the many problems plaguing California schools, where the Latino dropout rate is 40 percent and Latino students have consistently low achievement test scores. Unless these students can learn in English, future school reform efforts will not help them. Most parents who participated in the school boycott last year labor in garment district sweatshops. Others wait on tables, clean downtown offices or sell fruit or tamales on street corners.
Education is their only hope for a better future for their children.
The first step is learning English. Alice Callaghan, an Episcopalian priest, is director of the Las Familias del Pueblo community center.