April 30, 1999
By Domenico Maceri
Recent newspaper headlines suggest that California's elimination of bilingual education is working. Reports of students learning English quickly are commonplace. Other states, notably Arizona, are working on propositions similar to the Golden State's 227, doing away with bilingual education. If it's working in California, why not spread the success all over the country?
Unfortunately, the early reports of kids learning English are superficial and tell you very little about kids' educational achievements. That's probably why states such as Texas and New York are wise in refusing to jump on the anti-bilingual education bandwagon opting instead for long-term results rather than splashy headlines.
Education is a long term process and involves much more than just the English language. As vital as this tool is, just knowing English will not do much for you unless it coupled with knowledge of other subjects. There are lot of Americans who possess English conversational skills and unfortunately cannot get decent jobs. The role of schools, whether we are talking about US-born or immigrant students, is to teach skills that will prepare people for life. A wide variety of subjects need to be learned.
Bilingual education tries to accomplish this task. It teaches children the school subjects in the students' native language while they are learning English. After several years, students transition into English-only classes. If instruction is in English from the very beginning, immigrant children lose several years because initially they are totally confused. They fall behind and many never recover the lost ground.
That's what used to happen. The old "sink or swim" approach did not work. Asking ten-year olds who have never spoken any English to compete with counterparts who have grown up with the language will inevitably produces skewed results. Thus, immigrant children were often classified as not intelligent. In 1921, fifty percent of the special education students in New York City were Italian immigrants. Why such a high rate? They were taught and tested in English, a language they did not know very well. Their low scores branded them with a low IQ.
Establishing bilingual education programs was a reaction to these problems. It was an attempt to bring education to students who had special needs. Bilingual education tries to meet students at their level rather than the level where they "should'' be.
It's is a very basic idea in education. If kids live too far away from school, you send a bus to pick them up. If they come to school hungry, you give them breakfast, and then they can learn. If they don't know English, you learn their language. You use it to teach them math and other subjects. You use it to communicate with their parents and explain to them how they can help their kids with their education. That way, your students won't fall several grades behind their peers. In a few years, they'll know enough English to keep up in all their subjects and will no longer need instruction in their native language. That's what bilingual education is about — meeting immigrant children at their own level. If you don't, they will fail and we as a society fail and eventually suffer the consequences.
Does bilingual education succeed? Research done by George Mason University and the National Research Council indicates that it works very well. A study by the Los Angeles Unified School District demonstrated that students in bilingual education programs did better in reading and writing than those who were taught in English from the beginning.
In spite of its success, bilingual education is no panacea because its recipients are disadvantaged students. Bilingual education cannot change the socio-economic and educational status of immigrant children and their parents. Bilingual education cannot eliminate the poverty inherent in immigrant children's lives. It cannot turn their parents into well-educated people who can provide all the support their kids need.
Bilingual education is not perfect, but then what is? Phonics? Whole language? Traditional math? New math? Good teachers know that they need a variety of tools to meet the diverse needs of their students. Bilingual education is one of those tools.
As the country continues to examine what's the best way to teach immigrant children it should take a look at Texas' long-term approach. California's flashy headlines with the success of its immersion program will do nothing except to make the state's voters feel justified in voting to eliminate bilingual education.
Domenico Maceri teaches foreign languages at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria, CA. He can be reached at: dmaceri@aol.com.
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