Dual Immersion

In 1979 my husband and I purchased a home in the Patrick Henry area. When I registered our children I was happy and excited for our kids that they were going to learn Spanish and be bilingual. Our son was in kindergarten and our daughter was in second grade. Both kids graduated from Patrick Henry and went on to Marshall Jr. High. Neither of them could speak more than a few words of Spanish. The program concentrated on the Spanish kids and not the English speaking kids. By the time they left Patrick Henry they were so sick of everything Spanish that my son was openly upset that they wasted their time in this program.

If I had to make this choice again I would not put them through this program as it is not as it was presented to me and my husband. More recently (about 6 or 7 years ago ) our daughter lived for a while in the Patrick Henry District and her children went to this same school. She and her husband left the children in the program for a few months, but the school was still so lopsided in their teaching of everything Spanish/Mexican ) that they removed the kids from the program and drove them every day to another school.

We are not racist people, but this program is not what it is claimed to be.