With the current leadership in California, it seems as though
politicians will never learn from their mistakes.
However, some California lawmakers have miraculously realized
that government mandated English as a second language programs hurt
children, and other states are following suit. Massachusetts and
Colorado for example, following the lead of California’s
legislature, have introduced measures that would end the damaging
practice of bilingual education.
Anyone who has studied a foreign language knows the best way to
learn is not with years of mandatory schooling, but through
immersion in an environment where that language is spoken. Students
who go abroad after taking four quarters of a language all say they
could barely keep up upon arrival, yet were fluent by the time they
left, often less than a year later.
Unfortunately, these facts have consistently escaped the
bleeding heart multiculturalism advocates who would rather react
with emotion than reason, especially if it means holding on to a
practice contrary to the dreaded Western culture.
California practiced bilingual education for years to slowly
integrate children into the American school system while being
culturally sensitive. As a result, kids failed to learn English and
fell further and further behind.
Then in 1998, California voters voted 61 to 39 percent to ban
bilingual education (http://www.nytimes.com
/2002/10/09/education/09BILI.html). The results have been
staggering. Non English speakers began improving in all subjects at
incredible rates. As Ken Noonan, a former staunch bilingual
advocate and superintendent pointed out in August, “I thought
it would hurt kids. The exact reverse occurred…The kids began to
learn–not pick up, but learn–formal English…far more quickly
than I ever thought.”
Standardized tests have confirmed the results: the number of
English learners in first through third grade who scored above the
fiftieth percentile on standardized tests has more than doubled to
27 percent since 1997. This means more than one quarter of
non-native English speakers scored above the average of all
California students. Yet there are those in Massachusetts,
Colorado, and even California who still doubt the effectiveness of
English immersion. They rightfully recognize the stress associated
with immersion, but do not focus on the actual, positive
results.
They also cling to the anti-Western doctrine of multiculturalism
that states all cultures (and by extension, cultural attributes)
are equally valuable. Just as they equate homicide bombers
targeting civilians and organized retaliations aimed at terrorists
as equally deplorable acts, they also view bilingual education as
equal to language immersion.
They refuse to acknowledge that English is the language of
success on the road of capitalism. The parts of the world that have
taught English readily and immersed themselves in the Western way
of living have stronger economies and higher standards of living
than countries that haven’t embraced the English language and
Western culture.
Proponents of multiculturalism are willing to sacrifice the
success of immigrants and non-native speakers for the sake of
protecting non-Western cultures.
The bilingual debate is just the undercurrent of a far worse
problem plaguing America: that of failing school systems. In inner
city schools kids can barely read, write or compute at grade level.
Problem children are labeled ADHD or emotionally unstable and are
grouped in special education classes while the individual school
collects extra money for each of these “troubled”
students.
And the money hardly ever goes to these students who are now
destined to receive sub-standard education. Instead, the money goes
to hire more administrators and bureaucrats.
What’s even worse is it should have never been the
government’s job to educate our children in the first place.
Parents should be able to choose the education their children
receive as well as the language in which it should be taught. If a
parent decides a child should get bilingual education, then so be
it. At least it will be an individual choice, instead of some
unresearched and inefficient program set up by a colossal
bureaucracy.
Ultimately, politicians cannot know your children and therefore
cannot design the course of education that is best for them. When
choice is given back to the people, everyone prevails, and everyone
is offered the benefits of Western society.