SunSentinel. Sí, teach all children Spanish

An article by Andrew Abramson, Contact Reporter, Sun Sentinel columnist. No hablas Español?. Me neither. Like most South Florida English-speaking natives, I took a couple of years of Spanish in high school.......We'd learn a few phrases, take a multiple choice test, and watch VHS recordings of Lou Diamond Phillips' "La Bamba" — in English.

It didn't have to be like that. We could all have bilingual skills that would enrich our education and make us more competitive in the job market. Dual-language speakers have a leg up when seeking employment, especially in South Florida with an ever-growing Hispanic market. All it would take is our school districts treating Spanish as a core subject in the elementary level — on par with math, science and social studies.

There will be inevitable pushback from the "It's America, speak English!" crowd. Ignore that. We're supposed to learn a wide range of subjects in school that may or may not serve us in the future. As someone who pursued a career in journalism, science classes had a minimal benefit on my life. But I wish I had studied Spanish.

Campbell was stunned that his son wasn't learning Spanish at Miramar's Silver Shores Elementary.

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