Lane addresses forum on bilingual education

BOSTON—“In an ideal world, all students, those who begin with a limited proficiency in English as well as English-speaking students, would graduate reading Shakespeare in English and Don Quixote in Spanish,” state Rep. Harold M. Lane Jr. said yesterday. The Holden Democrat, who is the House chairman of the Legislature’s joint Education Committee, spoke at a forum on the education of “language minority children” at Boston University yesterday. He said the goals of educating immigrants and their children at the turn of the century were to teach them English and wipe out their native languages. “In the modern world, having a second language is an asset, not a liability,” Lane said. “Students who speak another language ought to be treated as a resource who can help teach their English-speaking peers a second language. ” While acknowledging reform of separate bilingual education programs is needed, former Gov. William F. Weld’s “bilingual education bill got lost in the shuffle last year as we tried to monitor the implementation of the Education Reform Act,” he said. Next year, Lane warned, two matters with more fiscal impact will be taken up by the Education Committee before it considers reform of bilingual education. One is reform of special education, he said. “Bilingual education is not significantly more expensive than regular education, unlike special education where per pupil costs are crippling,” Lane said. Also high on his committee’s agenda, he said, is reform of the funding formula. With the Education Reform Act of 1993, new state money has increased state aid to public schools from $ 1.5 billion a year to $ 3.2 billion. Lane said there are other things standing in the way of reforming bilingual education, too. “Too often the different sides don’t listen to each other,” he said. “Instead they vilify each other. “It’s a little like the debate (between Gov. Paul Cellucci and Attorney General Scott Harshbarger) we had the other night at Faneuil Hall,” Lane said. Another problem is that while one study may brand bilingual education a disaster, another will come out claiming it is a great success, he said.



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