Letters: Henry is Giving An Education To Us All

After reading the plight of bilingual educator/humanitarian Henry Gutierrez (Educating Against Epidemics, by Gordon Rich in the November/December 1999 issue), I felt compelled to express my great admiration and respect for the commitment Henry has shown to his students in such a trying enviroment.

Teachers, such as myself, often forget the emphasis that we put on language acquisition in less “life and death” classroom situations. On a selfish level, the gratification he must enjoy at helping people in such perilous circumstances must be intensely magnified.
And to be the sole educator under those circumstances can only add to the pressure. But it is clear Henry is more than a bilingual educator. I believe he is a role model for all teachers. His students, as the article stated, either have AIDS or know someone with the virus, thus presenting him with many, many teaching dilemmas on top of the language acquisition element of their education.

I for one would also line-up for a hug from Henry. Thank you for putting some of my classroom dilemmas into perspective for me and I hope the publicity the article generated has helped Henry in some way.

Susan Anderson
Portland, Oregon