Battle of languages
In the midst of an assortment of artifacts dedicated to dead grandparents -
flowers, toy trolls, a bottle of tequila and a can of evaporated milk - sits
a tiny skeleton with a notice handwritten in Spanish that says, in effect,
"Here lies Proposition 203."
The message, which someone placed on a Dia de los Muertos altar in a student
lounge at the University of Arizona's Chicano/Hispano Student Affairs
Office, is just one indication of the strong sentiment on campus against
Proposition 203, which would ban bilingual education in the state's public
schools.
A group of about a dozen students plan to camp on the UA Mall from Monday
morning until Tuesday morning to signify their opposition to the initiative,
and they're expecting about 150 people to join them in a march around the
campus Monday afternoon, said Luis Maldonado, a senior majoring in Spanish
and Mexican-American Studies who is organizing the protest.
UA President Peter Likins has spoken out against the proposition, as have
many College of Education professors and the entire UA linguistics
department.
If there are many supporters of Proposition 203 at UA, they're hard to find.
Even Tucson's biggest 203 supporter, Cholla High School English teacher
Hector Ayala, said he didn't know of any UA professors who openly supported
the initiative.
Ayala said he thinks any professors in favor of 203 likely are "toeing
the
line" and not speaking up about it because they feel pressure from the
"industrial complex." Ayala said he thinks local academics oppose
203
because they fear losing business if students are deterred from studying
bilingual education - not because they are experts in fields such as
education and linguistics.
"They have an industry to protect," he said.
Proposition 203 is being bankrolled by California businessman Ron Unz, who
promoted similar but weaker legislation that passed in California in 1998.
It abolishes the bilingual classrooms that have been used in Arizona for
more than 30 years in favor of one-year English immersion programs that
students would have to complete before moving along to other subjects.
It allows parents to ask for waivers of the English-only requirement under
certain circumstances, such as in cases of children with special needs, but
it states that school districts "may reject waiver requests without
explanation or legal consequence."
Proposition 203 supporters argue that bilingual education often fails to
teach students English well enough or quickly enough, and they say that
school administrators see the only solution as pouring more money into the
system.
UA professors counter that there is no research supporting one-year
immersion as an effective way to teach English. Professors from Arizona
State and Northern Arizona universities also spoke out against 203 during a
tri-campus press conference last month.
Research shows that students' ability to learn a second language usually
depends on the strength of their native-language skills, said Luis Moll, a
professor in the language, reading and culture program, a division of the
College of Education.
The faculty of the UA linguistics department issued a statement saying that
one year is not enough time for children to become competent in a language.
Linguists also object to 203 because they say it would threaten efforts by
Native American tribes to protect their languages from extinction and make
it more difficult to use American
Sign Language in classrooms.
Ofelia Zepeda, a UA linguistics professor and a member of the Tohono O'odham
Nation, said the proposition also would create "a huge mess" at
reservation
schools under the control of the state education department.
There also are concerns on campus that the law would restrict a teacher's
instructional options. Yetta Goodman, a Regents professor in language,
reading and culture, said passing 203 would be like mandating "which
scalpel
a surgeon should use."
"We're the only country in the world where being bilingual is
problematic,"
she said.
About 50 people came to a Proposition 203 discussion Thursday at the
Chicano/Hispano Student Affairs Office. Among them was only one vocal
supporter of Proposition 203.
UA student Francisco "Pancho" Sanchez received a round of applause
from the
others for having the courage to come to an event where he knew he would be
outnumbered. Sanchez said there are too many problems with the bilingual
education system in Arizona and that parents should be primarily responsible
for preserving culture, not schools.
"I'm for bilingual education if it's improved and it works," he
said.
While Maldonado agreed the bilingual education system is troubled, he argued
at the forum that abolishing the current system isn't an appropriate fix.
"We can't get rid of it because if we get rid of it, we won't be able to
improve it," he said.
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