Thread: A death rattle for local bilingual education

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A death rattle for local bilingual education

By: North County Times - Editorial

Our view: State and federal testing forces Vista's hand

The Vista Unified School District deserves North County's respect and support in its decision to, at long last, drop bilingual education.

Educators instead will push their Spanish-speaking students to learn English as fast as possible. Vista made its decision after concluding that it would always be difficult to meet state and federal testing standards using dual-language instruction ---- because the tests are given in English.


Honest people can, and do, disagree on the best way to teach kids who don't come to school speaking English.

One side says that in our English-speaking nation, getting students fluent as quickly as possible is key to their economic success and social mobility. Other reasonable people argue that students will fall behind in math, history and other subjects if they spend all their time learning English, so it makes sense to preserve some instruction in their native tongues.

It's the sort of debate that belongs with educators, academics and local school boards.

However, bilingual education was taken hostage by the political forces that routinely buffet California's school system.

Foes of immigration saw state-funded instruction in Spanish as a misuse of taxpayers' money and an assault on American culture. Others saw discrimination in the English-only movement, and some politicians exploited the issue to gain favor with Latino voters.

The matter was mostly decided in 1998, when California voters approved Proposition 227, which banned widespread dual-language instruction in public schools even as it allowed parents to request waivers.

Over time, school districts in most of North County dropped programs and shifted resources to "structured immersion" in English.

Yet Vista's school board and its administrators encouraged parents to apply for waivers and provided financial support for bilingual education.

Now, under the lash of standardized testing, Vista has joined the crowd. Not incidentally, the district has 18 campuses facing federal sanctions, mostly because its Spanish-speaking students didn't score well enough on the English-only tests.

In a perfect world, Vista's educators would have decided to phase out dual-language instruction solely because it was the best thing to do for Vista students ------ a decision made by the local school board in close consultation with parents, administrators and teachers.

But the politicized world of public education is far from perfect: This move was shoved down Vista's throat by state and federal governments, which ought to have little involvement in the inherently local endeavor of educating a community's children.

In the context of state and federal mandates, Vista is doing the best thing for its students. We just regret the context.


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Comments On This Story

Randy wrote on October 27, 2005 6:02 AM:"The editorial writer concludes, "We just regret the context." Well, this may sound a bit harsh, but why don't you move to Mexico and sample the dual language instruction offered in the public schools there? What? There is none? There are no public schools worthy of the name? Then quit whining, move back to the U.S. and learn to be grateful for what you have! "

ProudAmerican wrote on October 26, 2005 10:04 PM:"Listen, I am going to say what most people are thinking, but are afraid to say because of the witch-hunt it becomes towards people who express it: The underlying reason why there is a 'need' for billingual education in Spanish is because of the influx on non-English speaking students. That is the surface answer... the deeper question is why? Why is there an influx? It is because the vast majority of the non-English speaking students are children of illegal immigrants! These "Anchor babies" are treated as Americans. But they are NOT Americans. They just happened to be born here. This is why we 'need' bilingual education. But no one will say is that if every student who didn't pass were actually held back a grade there would be no room in the classrooms to accomidate them, nor would there be enough funding to pay for it even if there were room. I have NO SYMPATHY for those who invade America-=-- whatever country they may be from. Now, I can appreciate why so many come. But if the shoe were on the other foot and I had to go to another country illegally, I'd be so eternally grateful to the country that allowed to help myself and my family that I'd do WHATEVER I could to assimilate!! By and large illegal Hispanics/Latinos/Mexicans (take your pick) DO NOT assimilate into the cultural mainstream of the United States. In fact, they flaunt their 'pride' of Mexico on American soil. If it so great, why did you leave? And if it isn't so great, why espouse it as though it were. You HYPOCRITES!!!!!!!!! Go bakc. The sooner martial law comes for this issue, the better."

Well, YIPPEE for my STATE! I can say I'm PROUD to be a North Carolina resident today. The Vista Unified School District is doing the RIGHT thing by forcing their foreign students to learn ENGLISH. But, "WE REGRET THE CONTEXT"??? COME ON. WHAT is there to REGRET. BE PROUD to be AMERICANS taking a stand to preserve our language.