"Se habla espanol." Isn't it amazing how quickly business people learn a second language? As is often the case, the private sector is quick to see and take advantage of new opportunities. It did not wait for Washington to provide direction, as in the case of the exploding Hispanic population. It saw a loyal, quality work force, with a good work ethic, that would allow it to compete on a global scale. It also saw a fast-growing consumer market.

We complain about the growing number of Hispanic students in our Utah classrooms and the drain they are on our economy, but, if you think about it, they are a major part of the new and young work force America needs to succeed in the global economy. Today, the most valuable resource a nation has is its people and how prepared they are to help it succeed in the world marketplace.

We cannot afford the luxury of waiting for Washington to resolve our schizophrenic immigration policies because the world is changing too fast. If we don't invest in educating all the intellectual capital in our classrooms, the world will pass us by. While other nations, such as India and China, are investing in education at a faster rate than America, we ought to be looking to the market edge that we already have — a diverse population and an educational system that cultivates the unique talent of our students.

The largest minority group in our classrooms is Mexican. Most of them inherit the same values that drove their immigrant parents to come to America — the willingness to work, a sense of family and loyalty to those who reach out to them.

In the early '30s, Mexican families shopped at the same place regardless of price. They had layaway and charge accounts at Sears on the southwest corner of Main and Broadway and at Roe's on the southeast corner of State and Broadway. Then there was a loan company owned by el Skeep on State near 800 South. He got all the Mexican business because he knew how to say "buenos dias."

So much for being bilingual. His interest rates were probably just as high as they are with today's Skips, but it was just the fact that he tried to reach out that made him the place to go for a loan. Now that's loyalty.

Until the day he died, my father cashed his paychecks at the Continental Bank (now Hotel Monaco). Later, when he retired from his railroad job as a laborer, he opened a savings account there to buy burial plots for his children at the Mt. Calvary Catholic Cemetery. In those days, people had no money for college education savings but relied on credit and the goodwill of people to get by. For newcomers, that's still the case.

By the way, I finally talked my father into giving me the money ($300) because it wouldn't do me any good when I was gone.