Column Left: A Bifurcated Approach to Bilingual Vote

Math hero Jaime Escalante supports the initiative only as a wake-up call to fellow teachers

Rarely do we actually witness how one individual can change the world, even if it’s only the biggest barrio in the United States called “La Raza.” Jaime Escalante is that genuine American hero. He achieved his fame, depicted in the movie, “Stand and Deliver,” by transforming a gang-ridden school and community into one that began to produce the nation?s top mathematicians and scientists.

He did this at Garfield High School in East Los Angeles in the 1980s through the language of math and simple words, such as ganas (desire) and “you’re the best.” More importantly, he taught us that there’s no such thing as an insurmountable obstacle.

Today, however, some people from that same community are calling him a vendido or sellout, because he has endorsed California’s anti-bilingual initiative, slated for 1998. We disagree with his stance, but he’s far from being a sellout.

Escalante, who today teaches at Hiram W. Johnson High School in Sacramento, Calif., points to his experience as an immigrant from Bolivia, a parent and a teacher, to justify his support of this measure. He is convinced that bilingual education stunts the growth of students — los atrasa. However, upon interviewing him, what we ascertained is that he isn’t so much against bilingual education as he is disgusted with the inadequacies of underfunded bilingual programs and incompetent educators. He told us that in all his years as an educator, he has yet to meet a truly bilingual calculus teacher. He believes that for students to succeed, “they have to dominate the English language.”

Ironically, that’s what bilingual educators also believe. What Escalante supports is actually a far more radical idea than what exists now: fully bilingual teachers who would teach all subjects, primarily in English, to non- English language speakers. “But they have to be truly bilingual,” he said. Today, it is not uncommon for educators who are not bilingual to be granted waivers to teach in bilingual programs.

The bigger problem is the lack of fully-qualified teachers, notes Escalante. He said that in California alone, 20,000 educators are teaching with emergency credentials. “And the worst ones are sent to minority schools.” He characterized many teachers as incompetent and as ‘sharks’ and ‘ratas’. “Trabajan por la plata” (They only work for the money). Few, he says, bother to work before and after school.

We asked him why he lent his name to the anti-bilingual initiative, which is perceived by many to be patently anti-pedagogical on its face, not to mention anti-Latino. He says he supports it as a wake-up call to teachers, but that he has no interest in the politics behind it, or in debating the issue.

He did tell us that unlike what the movie depicted, success at Garfield came after 10 years of hard work, not one. That?s what?s puzzling; nothing, particularly language learning, occurs overnight. Yet the initiative calls for placing non-English speaking students into mainstream classes after one year of English immersion.

We often question what people mean when they bandy about phrases such as English Only or bilingual education because these loaded terms often hold different meanings for different people, especially when polls are taken. For example, many opponents of bilingual education point to poorly funded English- as-a-Second-Language programs, and cite them as the reason for abolishing bilingual education. ESL programs seek to teach basic English. Bilingual programs have as their goal to produce students who are fully competent in college-level course work in two languages. Virtually all language research shows that bilingual programs work. This is why we’ve long maintained that this issue should be debated among educators, preferably bilingual ones, as opposed to people like Ron Unz, the millionaire entrepreneur who is bankrolling this movement.

What educator would send a colleague to prison because of different teaching methods? That’s what the initiative calls for and Escalante certainly doesn?t support this.

Escalante tells us: “Everything I have ever done is for the benefit of the children.”

From two people who were continually called wetbacks and spics in U.S. schools — when there was no bilingual education — we sincerely believe that children would benefit and learn under any system as long as there were caring, competent and inspiring teachers. But we ask, how many Escalantes teach in our nation’s schools?


Response Letter by Jaime Escalante



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