Repairing Bilingual Education

Bilingual education in New York City was originally viewed as a transitional program that would teach foreign-born children in their native languages until they were fluent enough in English to enter the educational mainstream. But over the last 25 years, bilingual programs at many schools have become foreign-language ghettos from which many children never escape. The need to expose foreign- born students to more English during the school day ? and to move them as quickly as possible into the mainstream ? was underscored this week in a pair of reports, one from Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s task force on bilingual education and one from Schools Chancellor Harold Levy.

The push to reform bilingual education has intensified across the country since the Silicon Valley millionaire Ron K. Unz championed a ballot initiative that ended bilingual education in California two years ago. Opponents of bilingual education want it replaced with the so-called immersion method, in which students are forced to “sink or swim” in classes taught entirely in English. Immersion has at least a chance of success in the early grades, where children are mainly being taught to read and write. But it is a recipe for failure in the upper grades, where older foreign-born students must simultaneously learn English and master complex subjects like math, science and literature.

Mayor Giuliani and Schools Chancellor Levy have wisely called for reforming special education instead of dismantling it. Both reports want to end the practice of dragooning children into the system, and call on administrators to offer parents a range of choices. Instead of automatically assigning students to bilingual classes ? where they take subjects like mathematics and social studies in their native languages ? parents would be allowed to choose other options, including the strategy of English as a second language, in which most instruction is offered in English. Children would be moved into the mainstream as quickly as possible, preferably within three years.

But these sensible reforms have little chance of succeeding unless the city and the state act quickly to train and recruit teachers who can perform the needed tasks. Nearly 30 percent of bilingual instructors are uncertified. Some have not even mastered the languages they have been hired to teach. True reform will require dollars, determination and a qualified teacher in every classroom.



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