Deficient in English
Bilingual Programs are Failing
By Daniel Muniz
 

● Texas students who struggle with the English language fell about 60 percentage points behind Anglo students in passing reading and math tests by the time they reached the eighth grade. ● Nationally, about 46 percent of fourth-graders in the "English language learner" category, sometimes called limited English proficient students, scored "below basic" in mathematics, the lowest level possible. ● Nationally, 71 percent of all fourth- and eighth-grade English-language learners scored "below basic" in reading and math. ● Nearly three quarters scored below basic in reading. The findings were based on the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the "nation's report card." Pew Hispanic Center Source: The San Antonio Express News

The consensus is that across the country bilingual education has never worked out. Students can spend all twelve grades in bilingual programs but never really end up with a proficiency in English. Consequently, such a glaring deficiency also means faring poorly in other subjects like mathematics. Sadly, the outcome is a group of people who are condemned to a lifetime of poverty because being unable to read and write severely limits employment opportunities.
 

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Accordingly, organizations like the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) files lawsuits in various states because of these inadequate programs.

As a result, activists contend that a better bilingual education program is needed. There are plenty of suggestions floating around such as students spending half a day learning their own language and the other half devoted to English. Basically, the ideas are centered on spending more money. However, the original solution is always derided. For instance, Texas Republican state representative Rob Eissler insists:

The state will have to spend more money on the program if it proves out as effective as we think it will be. Ultra-conservatives aren't happy because they think (English) immersion is the only way to go.

Source: The San Antonio Express News

Somehow, if you support immersion programs, then you are an ultra-conservative who is completely incapable of dealing with the realities of people transitioning into the English language. And those are just the nice terms because many supporters of bilingual education like to toss around accusations of racism and bigotry.

I happen to know a little bit about this subject because Spanish was the language spoken in my household while I was growing up.

My situation was different from that of my neighbors in the barrio because I was never placed in a bilingual program. Instead, I was educated in regular classrooms for elementary and middle schools (the classes that had the white kids in them). I never had any instructions whatsoever in Spanish. Of course, I experienced a few difficulties because I would pronounce cognates as the way they were spoken in Spanish instead of anglicizing them but that only happened in elementary school and I quickly adapted to the correct usage.

Tragically, many kids who lived in my neighborhood were placed in bilingual programs. And for about a span of one week, I briefly joined them when I was in junior high. I was appalled to see how my neighbors were struggling with material that I had already mastered in elementary school. Fortunately for me, my dad spoke to the principal which resulted in me getting transferred to a normal classroom.

But I saw firsthand the perils of bilingual education. These kids lived in the same barrio I lived in and some were neighbors across the street but they were learning a watered down curriculum while I was receiving the same education that the white kids were getting. They never called it an immersion program because it was a regular curriculum. From kindergarten on up, I simply learned the same things that the white children learned.

And I never once considered myself a disadvantaged student. I became as fluent in English as the white kids were and my grades were as good as theirs. Although my mother only had a second grade education, both of my parents were very strict about me doing well in school. They made sure I turned in my homework and that I stayed out of trouble (there was plenty of that in the barrio).

In fact, the transition was pretty seamless for me when my parents left the barrio and entered the great middle class in which my first day of high school was in a predominantly white suburban school. What I had already learned proved to be an excellent foundation in a more competitive environment.

From my personal experience, bilingual education is a waste of time and money. The harsh reality is that the kids who are enrolled in it never gain a fluency in English and there is no way to improve it other than biting the bullet and going through a complete immersion program. You cannot sugarcoat learning English. It has to be mastered as soon as possible even if it means enduring a few hardships in the beginning.

But most important of all, there should be absolutely no bilingual programs in elementary school. There is no reason why a child should not learn the same English that white children are already learning at the same age.

Is it going to be easy? Of course not but the advantage I had was that my parents placed a very high value on an education. They made sure that I made good grades in school. So yes, there is a cultural factor involved because parents have to want their children to succeed instead of making it the government’s responsibility. And that is the Achilles heel of the activists in thinking that more money and better bilingual programs will solve all of their problems.

Overall, I am thankful that I never participated in bilingual education and I am grateful that my parents intervened when I was inadvertently placed in it.

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