Bilingual Education Translated to Failure in Orange, California

Ethnic diversity in the U.S. is fueling a debate about the role of language in the schools. A bilingual approach taken by one Southern California community is being blasted by many officials as a failure.

BYLINE: Sonia Ruseler, Greg LaMotte

SONIA RUSELER, CNN ANCHOR: Ethnic diversity in the U.S. is fueling a debate about the role of language in the schools. A bilingual approach taken by one Southern California community is being blasted by many officials as a failure.

CNN’s Greg LaMotte reports voters will decide the next move.

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GREG LAMOTTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With school now in full swing, it’s definitely time to crack the books. Question is, in what language?

Imagine just for a moment you are the child; how scared and confused do you suppose you would be if you couldn’t understand anything anyone was saying. Would you fall behind?

That, in essence, was the reasoning for the creation of bilingual education in California; a system that’s been in place for 25 years.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE #1: We don’t want that child to fall behind in their core subjects because that will only stigmatize them, lower their self-esteem, and create higher dropout rates.

LAMOTTE: Non-English speaking children are taught in their own languages up through third grade, while gradually being exposed to English; 4th grade: it’s English only. At least, that’s how it’s supposed to work. But the fact is, only about six percent learn enough English to enter English-only classes.

ROBERT FRENCH, ORANGE, CALIFORNIA, UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT: I compare that to a quarterback who completes six percent of his passes, or a batter who hits six percent; an attorney that wins six percent of his cases, or a doctor only six percent of his patients get well. To me, that’s an atrocious failure rate.

LAMOTTE: So much so, the Orange, California Unified School District, after a court battle, dumped bilingual education. In its place: English immersion.

FRENCH: We immerse the kids into a full English instruction program, but we do provide bilingual aides to assist the students.

LAMOTTE: In California, about a half million children are enrolled in bilingual education classes, but that may soon change. A recent “Los Angeles Times” poll says 80 percent of the respondents support a proposed ballot measure to dismantle bilingual education in

California. The number was even higher, 84 percent among Latino voters who were surveyed.

SHERI ANNIS, ENGLISH ONLY ACTIVIST: The earlier you are taught in English, the more quickly you adapt to the English language.

LAMOTTE: It sounds simple enough. Even so, it sure can be scary when you don’t understand the language.

Greg Lamotte, CNN, Orange, California.



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