Calfornia Bilingual Education Deja Vu?

There is a proposition on the ballot, that wants to gut the Ballot Proposition that killed most bilingual education in California. I have mixed feelings about this. My understanding was once 227 went into effect, it had a huge negative impact on businesses selling bilingual materials. I have heard this from multiple book sellers. As an educator, it seemed that prior to 227 many students were stuck permanently in bilingual classes, and never learned English. The incentive for schools being to max out bilingual classes for additional funding. The end result from studies, is eliminating bilingual education did not seem to have a negative impact on student performance.

My 2 cents - What California needs is true bilingual education. What it has prior to 227 was not. The goal has to be to get students fluent in English ASAP, for this is a basic language they need for economic survival in the US, To go beyond the survival level, being bilingual is a great advantage to have. In Southern California Spanish is very helpful, but the rise of China, had made Learning Chinese a competitive advantage.

Déjà Vu in California (Culture Wars) - The American Interest

Labels: bilingual education