Guy W. Farmer
For the Appeal

I finally agree with something that University of Nevada Prof. Emma Sepulveda wrote in the Reno Gazette-Journal. Last Sunday she wrote a column titled "Speak Only English on the School Bus?" and I liked what she had to say about that issue.

Although I admire Prof. Sepulveda as a LEGAL immigration success story, our views rarely coincide on the hot button political issue of ILLEGAL immigration. That's because she usually approaches the issue from an "us" (Hispanics) vs. "them" (everyone else) point of view, and usually makes no distinction between legal and illegal immigration.

But on the question of whether kids should be required to speak English at all times, we agree that Esmeralda County (Goldfield) School Superintendent Robert Aumaugher created a needless tempest in a teapot when he banned the Spanish language on county school buses. "He sent out a letter informing parents ... that their children wouldn't be allowed to speak Spanish on the school bus anymore," Sepulveda wrote. "(But) as a longtime educator I would suggest that a bus full of teenagers coming home after a day at school may not be the ideal place for doing any serious learning."

READ MORE: http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20080302/OPINION/23210664

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