Money Does the Talking in the Bilingual Debate
Latino parents in Los Angeles successfully boycotted a school when it refused to teach their children in English. Other Latinos sued Orange Unified School District where the situation is bordering on the farcical: 28 of the district's 45 certified bilingual teachers left after the school board voted in May to teach in English only. In August, a Superior Court judge responded to the parents' suit and blocked the district's plan but now there aren't enough bilingual teachers and the district is refusing to hire replacements.
Violence
In some unfortunate cases, the angry talk has erupted into physical violence. Earlier this year, police were called to Ravenswood City Elementary School in East Palo Alto, California, when, during a meeting on bilingual education provision, an African-American woman urged a woman acting as a Spanish translator to "take [her children] back to Mexico" causing a scuffle. Later, a fire whose origins were described as "suspicious" by the authorities, resulted in the destruction of the school's records on compliance with state mandates on bilingual education provision at a time when it was under investigation by state and federal officials for non-compliance with the regulations. Ravenswood is an extreme example of the tensions that exist within our school system as educators struggle to teach immigrant children who often come from backgrounds that afforded little or nothing in the way of education as it is defined in the US. There are also worries that bilingual education concentrates too much on the needs of Spanish speakers ignoring children from other linguistic backgrounds. The last, and most important concern is that bilingual education itself isn't working.Wrangles
This perception is a manifestation of the political wrangles that mask real educational debate in this country. Pro- and anti-bilingual forces seize on each and every piece of research as support for their own views. The overriding reason for this controversy is money.Although Education is a Cinderella when compared to Ugly Sisters like Defense in terms of government funding, there are signs that more money is being allocated to teaching. President Clinton, in search of an increasingly elusive legacy to hand down to the nation, has earmarked billions of dollars for education. Title I programs, designed to improve the academic achievement of children who usually perform badly in tests, often from impecunious backgrounds, have been financed by a $7.1 billion federal budget. School districts across the country are devoting this money to bilingual education, taking advantage of the fact that limited English proficient students automatically qualify for Title I dollars. But will these programs help children to speak English? Advocates say that bilingual education programs encourage proficiency in native language skills that are later transferred to second language acquisition. Detractors say that limited English proficient students do better when they are placed in English speaking classes at an early age. But there is a point on which both sides agree: students in need of English language skills usually come from impoverished families and the resulting lack of "cultural enrichment" contributes to their plight. Once again, we're back to money. And let's face it: students from impoverished backgrounds are less likely to achieve in the school system whether they speak English or not.
Dropouts
Little that is positive emerges from this debate.Dropout rates among Latino students remain disturbingly high among English and non-English speakers alike although the former are more likely to stay on in school. Language is once again a political football that will be hurled from voter to voter next year in California, often the bellwether state for the rest of the country. Money lies at the root of the issue: money for bilingual programs or money taken away from them.
In order to help both present future students to succeed we need to take the politics out of education, to become flexible in our approach to bilingual education and to get off the soapboxes and start listening. We should recognize that some bilingual programs work and that others don't. The non-English speaking minority of the US is as ethnically and socially diverse as the English speaking majority. It is facile to believe that one approach to English language acquisition can encompass all of the varied needs that must be met.