Home | News | Analysis | Help Us | E-Mail | Your Stories | Texts | People | Links

English for the Children of Massachusetts

Ballot Initiative Campaign Launched to Dismantle Bilingual Education in Massachusetts

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: LINCOLN TAMAYO

JULY 31, 2001 978-468-1025

PR #1

Boston, MA---A ballot initiative campaign to completely dismantle Massachusetts�s thirty-year-old system of "bilingual education" was launched today at the base of the front steps of the Statehouse in Boston. The leaders have modeled their proposed initiative on the overwhelmingly popular measures that largely ended bilingual programs in California in June 1998 and in Arizona in November 2000. Massachusetts had been the first state in America to establish a general mandate for bilingual education, and its laws served as a model for numerous other states.

Lincoln Jesus Tamayo, statewide chair of English for the Children of Massachusetts, argued that a ballot initiative was the only solution. "As a Latino immigrant child who arrived in America speaking no English, I know the importance of learning that language. As a high school principal, I have seen the dismal results of our current so-called bilingual programs, which teach English much too slowly. And as Chairman of the Massachusetts Bilingual Education Advisory Council, I recognized the hopelessness of legislative efforts to reform this dreadful system of Spanish-only instruction. We�ve already lost too many generations of Latino students; the �English for the Children� initiative is their only chance."

The views of Mr. Tamayo were seconded by those of Co-Chair Rosalie Pedalino Porter, herself an immigrant child, former director of bilingual programs for Newton, MA, and author of Forked Tongue, a powerful critique of bilingual education. "I learned English as a child in school, but was later forced to administer a system which prevented other immigrant children from doing the same. After wasting fifteen years trying to reform bilingual programs, I�ve decided we must end them instead."

The proposed measure would require that children not fluent in English be placed in a special intensive "sheltered English immersion" program to teach them English as rapidly as possible. Last year, the New York Times and other national media highlighted the apparent large gains in immigrant test scores produced by a similar statewide program in California.

Ron Unz, national chairman of English for the Children, believes that the dramatic improvement in California�s immigrant academic performance will persuade voters in Massachusetts to adopt a similar policy. "In less than two years following the passage of Prop. 227, the mean percentile test scores of over a million immigrant students in California have risen by an average of 40%. Ken Noonan, founder of the California Association of Bilingual Educators, has now become a born-again convert to English immersion. I think Bay State voters will follow California�s lead."

English for the Children of Massachusetts

Tel: 978-468-1025

Web: http://www.English4Children.org E-Mail: [email protected]