Dear friends,
On the bilingual front there is bad news and good news. While the
Massachusetts initiative passed a similar initiative in Colorado was
defeated.
My sympathies with folks in MA it was a dark day in California as well
when Prop 227 passed.
Apropos to our recent discussion the issue of "labeling" played a
confounding role in California (and likely elsewhere). When we use the
term "bilingual," for instance, are we referring to the students or the
programs? It is a big difference.
In California "bilingual education" has always referred to any program
that serves bilingual English language learners (whether or not any
non-English primary language is used in that educational program).
And in California, even *before* Prop 227 less than 20% of students
(closer to 15%) in so-called "bilingual education" programs were
receiving any non-English language support or instruction.
The majority of kids in "bilingual education" programs were already
(pre-227) in English-Only ESL-type programs, that unfortunately were
also labeled "bilingual education," because of *who they served* not
*what they offered.*
But the Unz spin machine was able to give the public the perception that
kids in "bilingual education" programs in California were languishing
away in classes taught entirely in a non-English primary language,
without access to quality English language instruction/development.
This simply wasn't the case. But how do you meaningfully distinguish
"bilingual education" from "bilingual education" for naive voters? (and
I know there are other politics involved, and not all voters were naive
or would be convinced to vote differently if they knew the reality).
So even assuming some voter consensus that "bilingual education" was
failing it was already a predominantly English-Only approach that was
failing. So the solution to mandate, through 227, for all bilingual
learners what was already failing to serve most of them was patently
absurd.
All I can say to folks in Massachusetts is "waivers" (if those haven't
been totally sacked in the MA version of this initiative) and rallying
the upper income white folks with kids in Two-Way Bilingual Immersion
who don't want their kids forced out of those quality programs. Another
racist reality is that a handful of those white, upper income parents
addressing a state or local school board will have more clout than bus
loads of Latino parents making the same demand for their kids (at least
that was the case in California).
And so it goes.
In Peace,
K.
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