Louisiana School Officials Propose Requiring English at Graduations
Two students who spoke some Vietnamese in their commencement speeches spark the debate. APAs protest the English-only proposal.
Controversy is stirring around a few sentences spoken in Vietnamese during two Louisiana high school commencement speeches. School officials have now put forth proposals to require commencement speeches to be in English only.
Co-valedictorians Cindy and Hue Vo, cousins, delivered part of their commencement speeches in Vietnamese at an Ellender High School graduation ceremony in May.
Cindy recited a sentence in Vietnamese dedicated to her parents, roughly translated as a command to be your own person, and Hue spoke three sentences in Vietnamese to summarize an English portion of her speech in which she thanked her parents.
Hue said being able to use Vietnamese allowed her to help her parents understand her emotions and how appreciative she is of the sacrifices they have made for her.
"I think it's fortunate that I'm able to speak two languages, that I kept my culture like my mom and dad want me to," she said in an interview with the Pacific Citizen.
The speeches were approved prior to the graduation ceremony by Beth Bajon, an English teacher at Ellender who looked over the speeches for grammar and content.
School board member Rickie Pitre had issues with the commencement speeches, and another board member made a motion that charged David Bourg, the secondary education supervisor with the Terrebonne Parish School District, with forming a committee to critique the high school graduations. The committee has not been formed because schools are still in summer session.
Bourg said he meets with the principals in the district regularly, and graduation comes up as a topic about three or four times a year. What makes this situation different is that board members had particular issues, but he stressed that his role as a chairman of the committee was the result of a board directive.
"This did not originate with me," Bourg said. "It was a board member who had issues, not me, not anybody from the staff."
Board member Pitre said he did not like the students addressing in a foreign language and said the board or administration needed to address the inconsistencies. Pitre did not respond before press time for further comment.
Hue said she first heard about the proposals from a local reporter and was never directly notified by school officials. She was shocked by the news, particularly because past valedictorian speeches had utilized foreign languages without complaint.
"I was very shocked and surprised because in the process of writing our speeches everyone knew there was going to be a Vietnamese part of it," said Hue.
Different groups like the Vietnamese American Young Leaders Association of New Orleans (VAYLA-NO) have spoken out against the proposals. Minh Nguyen, executive director of VAYLA-NO, has been helping both Cindy and Hue.
The group has built up a support group and a youth letter writing campaign for young people to express how they feel about the issue. Because of all of the support they are receiving, Nguyen said the requirements are not likely to take effect.
"I don't think we are going to let that happen," he said. "We have a lot of people to support us in this."
The JACL has also spoken out against the proposals, urging the Terrebonne Parish to strike down the policy.
"It is deeply concerning that a school would think to censor students for their bilingual abilities," said Floyd Mori, JACL national director. "Their multicultural roots should be celebrated, not punished."
Associated Press contributed to this story.
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