A Spanish-speaking public school teacher on why bi-lingual education is not good for Hispanics.
It turns out that English immersion, which was mandated in California by Proposition 227, does not irreparably harm immigrant children. In the long run, it improves their confidence and ability to succeed academically.
Some argue that bilingual education is just as effective as English immersion, but I’ve seen firsthand that that’s not the case.
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As Jose Martin Samano, TV Azteca’s U.S. anchor, has said, “Immigrants here in the U.S. can make up to 50% or 60% more if they speak both English and Spanish.” That’s bad news for the 10 percent of the population that can’t speak English well or at all, and one reason why four out of five Hispanics think it is “very important” that people are able to speak English in America.
Posted by Jill Fallon at November 30, 2007 5:44 PM | PermalinkWhen we lived in IL - at one point we had a little boy who lived in the house behind us. He and my son were great friends - even though he spoke no English and my son spoke no Spanish (the language of kids works every time).
We lived there for a number of years - in that time the little boy grew up and he was sent to the bi-lingual school. When we left there, he was in 7th grade (which would make him 13 years old) and he could still barely speak English... even though he had been in the country since before the age of FIVE!
That is a travesty and proves to me that the current bi-lingual education is useless. I'm betting that any English he knew was what he picked up on television. It was very sad. I often wonder what became of him.
Posted by: Teresa at November 30, 2007 6:49 PM