For English, Press 1, para español, dos

Having taught in public education for 29 years, I was forced to be a part of the bilingual movement. Although for the last 15 years I worked closely with struggling language learners, the approach public education took in addressing the growing population of Mexican immigrants struck me as backwards, insulting, and counterproductive.

Let’s start with two basic statements and work from there: the first is “United We Stand, Divided We Fall;” the second is a basic military strategy – “Divide and Conquer.” These understandings are so basic, I don’t see the need to explain. Yet, the attempt to make our society bilingual is the antithesis of these.

Addressing the needs of the an “English as Second Language” learner should focus on bringing the student up to speed as quickly and thoroughly as possible in English. For the vast majority of those students, their educational experience in Mexico usually amounted to somewhere around a second or third grade equivalency, and yet chronologically they were placed in an 8^th grade classroom. Not only was their English very poor, but they were reading and writing in their own language at a third grade level. How then, were they supposed to integrate with their American counterparts who had received grade level instruction in math, reading, writing, speaking, geography, history, science, health and more? It just wasn’t going to happen.

(Let me pause for a moment to clarify that I didn’t believe full immersion was going to work either. If I had a second to third grade learning equivalency in America and then moved to Russia, entered college, and hoped to catch up based on being immersed, I wouldn’t stand a chance. So what is the answer?)

Whether dealing with Spanish, Russian, or any other language, immigrants to America, need to become literate in English first. There needs to be intense English instruction for at least two years with standards that are tested for exiting the program. Within that framework, concepts in different subjects can be presented, but the focus is English, English, English and more English.

Instead, we “mainstream” these kids, kidding ourselves that they will catch up. It’s not going to happen. Meanwhile, money is poured into the bilingual education system, wherein candidates are hired based on their ability to be bilingual. Most of those hired into these positions are marginal employees (in my experience) – their main attribute being that they speak Spanish. The Spanish speaking students then have a safety net. The bilingual assistant will be available to a select group of students in order to translate instructions from the English speaking teacher into Spanish. Usually, because of the wide gap in abilities, the teacher has to offer a 3^rd grade version of the 8^th grade expectations in order to allow the Spanish speaking student an opportunity to perform at his or her ability.

Two observations: Can you see why President Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” plan was doomed from the start? (And I was a Bush supporter.) What it really meant was No Child Gets Ahead. How can no one be left behind if someone is making progress at a faster pace? If I go to the Olympic trials and the rules are that Brigleb cannot be left behind, the sprinters will be prevented from improving, but worse, be forced to allow me to run the first 50 meters before they can leave the blocks. But wait a minute – for a brief time, I left them behind. Crap! How do we do this? The second observation concerns human nature. If I move to Russia, and have an assistant who will give me all my instructions in English, what motive is there for me to learn Russian? I mean, I’m struggling anyway. Why would I bother? Mr. Smith from America, the RSL assistant, is going to tell me the information in English as soon as Mr. Yevniskov, the teacher, finishes rattling off everything in Russia. I can wait.

Some schools in districts I’ve taught in decided to take the approach that all teachers be bilingual and deliver all instructions in both languages. The gurus argued that they could cover just as much ground, Mexicans would feel truly embraced, plus the cross cultural benefits would be worth it. Tell me, how can you possibly cover the same amount of content by having to present it twice? What demand does this put on the resources available for the taxpayers’ dollars? What happens for the kids whose native language is Russian, Korean, or Farsi? How does this bring us any closer to a society that does not have communication problems? What end does this bring to all social service providers as well as private businesses? It’s a house of cards.

The dirty little secret in education is that the lack of educational progress for Spanish speaking students is not limited to recent immigrants. The reality is that even for kids who were born in the United States, if English isn’t spoken in the home, more often than not, those students will perform behind their English speaking counterparts. At home, they speak in Spanish or Spanglish (a bastardization combining both languages), listen to Spanish music, and watch Spanish sitcoms. At school, they get both. There is an ongoing resistance to embrace English, and that resistance has been fostered by the American public school system.

In turn, services for the adult society follows suit. “For English, press 1, para Espanol, dos.” Driving down the avenue, how many businesses boast “Se habla espanol.”? Do a job search and find out how many jobs say “Spanish speakers preferred.” With a business funded with taxes, or a private business, more and more jobs are rewarding applicants, even marginal applicants, for their ability to speak Spanish. If a business place takes that tact to remain competitive, what motivation is there for the Spanish speaking customers to learn English? And the level of competency we can expect from employees wherein the main requirement was that of speaking Spanish? I’m betting you’ve observed that for yourself.

Nobody, I’ve heard, is addressing this in terms of health care cost. But it’s real. At hospitals and clinics, patients can pretty much insist on having someone help who speaks Spanish. The Spanish speaking employee may or may not be required to competently do other tasks. Schedules for employees are then built around the availability of the Spanish speaking employee. While not necessarily the rule, the Spanish speaking employee may have sentiments concerning illegal immigrants, and under the cover of Spanish, provide loopholes for gaining access to taxpayer provided services. Communications concerning billings must go out in Spanish. Bill inquiries must be handled in Spanish. Etc, etc, etc. In many cases, a person who can communicate adequately in English will use Spanish as a ruse for not being held accountable and the case is discarded, meaning benefits are given, or debt forgiven as the Spanish speaker leads English speakers down a path of deadends. Gee, I wonder – does this raise health care costs?

The insulting part of this? The side of our culture which is pushing for bilingualism believes they are doing this for humane reasons. But what they are doing is nothing short of enabling. It is essentially saying that Mexicans are incapable of learning English to the same level as people from Germany, France, Japan, China, Russia and others. It’s the same tact that Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton take with the Blacks – turn them into victims. It is bigotry in sheep’s clothing.

Spanish is marginalizing our education system and well as our business environment. Additionally, it runs counter to building bridges within our culture. In my opinion, Spanish is dividing and conquering our nation. It’s one more instance of dismantling the basic “melting pot” concept of bringing people from diverse backgrounds together. How can we proclaim, “United We Stand” if 16% of the population can’t and has not interest in learning the native language, and is projected to be 30% by 2050?