Sierra County advocate., 1898-07-08
SHOULD KNOW
ENGLISH AND SPANISH.

The following opinion has been
rendered 10y the Hon. NJ. u. de
Baca. territorial superintendent oil
public instruction
Office Of Supt. Of Pnbllo Instruc
tion Of New Mexico-Mr. Julian
J. Irppllo, Kelly, n. M.:
Santa Re, \. NJ, June III, 1888
Dear Sir: / beg 10 acknowledge
r.cejp, Of your favor OF recent date
inquiriug OF the meaning OF the
provision OF ihe school law of 1891,
THAT in school districts where the
majority Of the children are OF
Spanish speaking parents. teachers
should know both English and
Spanish" In reply have to say
that tho only construction that can
be placed on said provision 10, thai
in such cases tbs teacher should
have knowledge Of both iangu-
apes la order that he might make
himself understood to all his pu
pills, and also IN order that he
might be able 10 use the Spanish
books adopted by the territorial
board OF education, As to whether
Spanish can be taught in the pnb-
lie schools, have to say that while
there is no specific provision OF law
requiring that Spanish should be
taught, etil Section 1920 Of the
Compiled Laws OF 1897 provides,
THAT it shall be the duty OF the
territorial superintendent OF public
instruction TO recommend the most
approved trst books IN English, or
English and Spanish, for the com
mon schools of the territory after
the same have been adopted by the
territorial board Of education,' etc,
in view OF the fact that the said
territorial board of education al
opted text books in Spanish and IN
English IA ljst is ENCLOSED heres
with ii becomes the dnty OF teach
era to use said books in the public
schools and, therefore, the teaching
of the Spanish language IL compnl-
sorry in order to carry out the PLAIN
provisions Of thc lav authorizing
tie adoption Of text books as above
stated
Very Truly Yours,
NJ G. de BAGS,
Superintendent.
Whereuppn the Enterprise en-
ters a protest in the following
strong language, which THE ADvo
carr heartily endorses
"Is it not time that this nonsense
wac done away with ? The Eng
lish language is the recognized
language Of the United States, and
in New Mexico alone OF all tho
states il any other language used
as the principal medium Of instrnc
tinn in any Of the public schools
The evils nt this system are hut too
apparent nj tho present tine. lhe
tie Of language has proven para
mount to teslty and patriotic duty
with tue oveTw w!ic!m.ng majority OF
the Spanish speaking citlzens OF
New Mexico The press OF the
Territory has tebooed this fact and
some Of, the papers have gone so
far AS to deny what their editors
knew to be an absolute truth, that
the majority of the Spanish speak
ing peesaa..s~ of New Me4ico, II they
did not ~ mpathize with Spain, at
least would not volunteer to light
against the nation. This is con
clusively proved by the small mum
Der OF Spanish speaking soldiers
who have volunteered this lar
oven officers Of Spanish descent
aud who speak the Spanish langn-
age, as Capt. Max Luna, could not
.naace their Spanish speaking
friends and acquaintances to volun-
tsar. Less than fifteen OF this
class have volunteered, while they
form q majority Of the population
OF the territory. The United |
states census oi 1890 shows that
out Of total population of l42, ,7le
in the territory there were 36,5O9
males and 30,T62 females oyer the
age of ten years who could not
speak the English language. At
least % per cent Of these spoke the
Spanish language And OF the
hole population of New Mexico
only ~ vera born 10 spain, aud
vet the sympathy Of Language used
by the Others has redonnded to tie
dlscredit % our territory IN the
present hour Of the nations need