BEFORE BILINGUAL EDUCATION: A POEM

(Those of us who still remember when speaking Spanish was prohibited (and punished) in the schools will relate to this old poem that was originally published in El Portavoz, the MEChA newsletter at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. It was later reprinted locally in Dr. G.F. McHale-Scully's El Rocinante in the Feb, 19, 1991 edition, more than 20 years ago. Note how every other line is in either Spanish or English, making it, in effect, bilingual.)


ESTIMADO MISTER
By Juan Montoya

The school is yours
La lengua nuestra

And still you insist on English
Para niños y maestra

Speaking in Spanish, you say
Nos volvera analfabetos

But even Oxford's won't show you
Como se gana el respeto

Mexican, Cuban, Hispanic
No ve valor en ninguna

But we can function in both
Y Ud. solamente en una

You've never witnessed a child
Comprendiendo una lección

When you use his mother tongue
En vez de la del sajon

Your paperwork and degrees
Dis'que es persona educada

Maybe that's why you come up
Con tan chulas pendejadas

c/s