What's Wrong with the "English for the Children" Initiative
by Laura Woodleaf, California Tomorrow

Human relations advocates have reason to worry about the proposed "English for the Children" initiative, which would eliminate bilingual education and replace it with a one year, one-size-fits-all model of "structured English immersion."  Under the Unz initiative, English language learners would be taught separately in English immersion classes for one year, placed together regardless of age, language, or grade level.  This initiative, authored by billionaire software developer Ron Unz, flies in the face of the best information about sound educational practice for English language learners and counters our best hopes for equality in a diverse society.  It would severely restrict parents' right to choose their children's education, deny immigrant students access to a quality education, make teachers personally liable for using a language other than English, and marginalize immigrant children and families.  Discussions about this initiative are already allowing damaging stereotypes about language minority speakers to become acceptable in public discourse.

Repeated studies by educators, linguists and other experts have found that native language instruction promotes access to content and does not hinder English language development.  Researchers have also learned that it takes not one but four to seven years for immigrant students to achieve the English fluency needed for school tasks.  Access to an education is a basic civil right that this initiative threatens.  According to Lau vs. Nichols (1974), schools have a legal responsibility to overcome the English language barrier for students who don't speak English.  By forcing non-English speakers to wait until they learn English sufficiently before taking subjects such as math or science, the Unz initiative will slow access to the curriculum, causing students to fall behind.  Concentrating only on learning English and neglecting to provide access to academic content constitutes a denial of educational access.

Most of the problems with bilingual education have to do not with the theory behind it, but with the lack of proper implementation. 

The Unz initiative would significantly restrict parents' ability to choose their children's educational programs.  Although parents now have the right to approve and request bilingual services, this initiative would burden parents who want bilingual education by forcing them to go through a complicated waiver process.  For a school to offer anything but the English-immersion program, 20 students per grade level must meet narrow waiver requirements.  Waivers would not be allowed for non-English speaking students under ten years old -- the majority of the limited English speaking students in California schools.  Furthermore, foreign language instruction for many students and dual language programs for all would be threatened by this initiative because they employ languages other than English.

The Unz initiative would effectively tie the hands of teachers, forbidding them to use any language other than English.  Teachers and administrators could be personally sued for assisting students in their native language.  If passed, teachers would be denied the right to teach in the ways that many believe are best for assuring that children learn English and all their other subjects well.

We need to improve bilingual education and implement it fully for all students who need it -- not eliminate it.  Most of all, we need to ensure that initiatives such as this, that deny children's and parents' rights and deepen social rifts, do not worsen the problems they promise to solve. Major educational organizations in California have spoken out publicly against this initiative, including the California Teachers' Association, the California Federation of Teachers, the Association of California School Administrators, the California Association of Bilingual Educators, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, California Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, the Association of Mexican American Educators, among others.

For more information, please contact California Tomorrow at (415) 441-7631.