Friday, May 29, 1998
Arguments will obscure facts
PROPOSITION: Both sides will play upon inadequate historical
images during upcoming debate
By Matthew Heyn
Be ready for it. In the upcoming battle over the merits and
disadvantages of Proposition 227, the "English for the Children"
initiative, the most cited statistic may be that nearly
three-fourths of Hispanic parents support it.
Let me repeat that, 75 percent of people with children most
likely to be aided by the program, plan to support it on this
year’s ballot. Doubtless, this will lead to snide remarks by
Republicans, Libertarians, conservatives and the like, that the
Democratic party is taking a position which forces minority groups
into programs that they don’t like. They will say that, like
Southern Democrats in the 1960s, with their "separate but equal"
consideration, today’s Democratic leaders are telling parents how
their children are best taught.
Proposition 227 supporters need to be careful about this
analogy; there are ways that it does not apply at all. Most
significantly, California’s Democratic leaders who oppose the
measure are obviously not the racists that the Southerners were.
While the Southerners’ motivation was to keep African Americans out
of the good schools that white children were privileged to attend,
most opponents of Proposition 227 are interested in giving Hispanic
children a fair shake despite their linguistic disadvantage in the
education system. Opponents of the measure are taking a moral high
ground and the prudent position in trying to ensure that every
child has the ability to achieve all that they can.
There is, however, a significant way in which the two situations
are similar, and I suspect it is the primary cause of the Hispanic
support for the measure. In both cases, children are separated out
of the mainstream to be given a different education. Children were,
de jure, allowed to be treated differently, with the goal of
getting all children to the same end point with, ostensibly, the
same opportunity. As all of us know, this never was the case under
"separate but equal" schooling, and I suggest that it is not often
the case under current bilingual programs.
Hispanic parents don’t want their children in these programs for
the same reason that the parents of mildly retarded children don’t
want their children in special programs. When one pegs a child as
needing extra help and removes them from the mainstream, they make
it very hard for the child to get back to the normal level. People
want their children to have a fair shake, and they don’t see this
happening in the bilingual special programs.
Of course, it doesn’t have to be this way. In the perfect world,
enough resources should be poured into bilingual special programs
that they will, in actuality, give Hispanic children an equal
chance with the English speaking children. In the perfect world,
there should be bilingual education to make up for the
disadvantages that are completely beyond the child’s control.
Unfortunately, this world is far from perfect, and separate is
inherently unequal. Bilingual education is going to help some
children and disadvantage others. It now becomes a matter of
pragmatics as to which technique will work better. It is clear that
history and educators are on different sides of this debate.
American history tells of immigrants coming to the melting pot and
their children finding a way to assimilate by submersion in
English. A majority of teachers, who work with the children on a
daily basis, believe the children are better taught their way, with
bilingual programs. Parents think their children are best taught by
submersion. I think it may be different for different children.
Before I close I would like to put one last wrinkle in the
debate. It should be noted that Proposition 227 allows for some
children to use a limited bilingual program with parental
permission and some requirements. These requirements are obviously
designed to make it so that not all Hispanic parents are able to
put their children in the program. However, given that 75 percent
of them don’t like it anyway, I don’t think that’s going to be a
problem.