Please, Leave Teaching of Bilingual Education to Teachers
David Leibowitz
The more you think about it, the more it looks like this Election Day in Arizona ought to have a 100 percent turnout. There's really no excuse because there's something on the ballot for everyone - presidential race, a proposed football stadium, tax hikes, control on growth. And now there's even something for the xenophobes and racists. The initiative to eliminate bilingual education in Arizona's public schools. Hey, hey, calm down - I'm not saying everyone who supports the anti-bilingual-ed movement, whose leaders turned in 165,000 petition signatures to the state Tuesday, has a Klan hood in his bedroom closet. I'm quite sure many of the backers are frustrated by the failures of Arizona's education system - Lord knows there's a bunch - and that a handful are actual education experts who believe it's time to change the norm. But the rest? Let's fact facts here: It's likely they're either motivated by knee-jerk fear or knee-jerk hatred. The haters I'll just ignore - they're as hopeless as they are legion. But the fearful are more curious to me. Their arguments for English-only education usually get couched in patriotism and compassion. They say America can't afford immigrants who won't assimilate because their culture will disappear. And they say, even louder, that it's for Hispanics' own good that they learn to speak English ASAP, because they're in America, and that's the fastest way to succeed. On the first count, I'd say they're naive and cynical, that America is bigger than that. On the second, I'd say they're correct, but with a vital qualifier: I'm not sure English-only is the fastest way to learn English. In California, where a similar proposition fronted by the same Silicon Valley millionaire, Ron Unz, passed easily in 1998, standardized test scores for English-immersion students increased slightly in 1999 - mostly from the level of dismal failure to sad failure. Of course, that same year, scores also increased slightly for the small number of students who remained in bilingual-ed programs. California education officials said one year wasn't enough time to determine the full impact of English-only education. Jury still out or no, the experiment has found its way to our doorstep. To me, it shows the weakness of the initiative process - bought signatures can give the fearful and hateful control over key issues such as education. Personally, I'd rather leave the teaching decisions to the teachers. It's a novel idea, I know, which is why it'll probably lose on Nov. 7. |