current events analytical

Bilingual education has come a long way since Hispanic immigrants came to America in the 1940s to work as braceros. Back then, families were paid little, given a horrible place to live, and the children were not provided schooling. Now, Hispanic children are allowed to go to school, but they still have problems. Many of the children’s parents understand little about our language or our customs. The article “Bridging the language gap; Bilingual school liaisons ease transition for immigrant parents,” explains the necessity of having a liaison at a school with a large number of non-English speakers. Liaisons explain to parents the rules and customs of the school and community. A bilingual liaison in Chicago “understands that many of the parents grew up poor with few years of formal education so he starts the school year explaining some basics, such as calling the school whenever one’s child is sick”. Also, the customs are different here than they are elsewhere. Another liaison says that, “Back home, it was disrespectful for the parents to come and question authority…I have to tell them in America, if you don’t come, it will be translated into carelessness”. As of 2006, Chicago had 60,000 English-language learners in its schools, but only 17 bilingual parent advocates in all of the elementary and high schools combined. The parents have much to learn so they can help their children, but that can only get them so far. If the school does not provide them help in learning English by offering an ESL class, the students will lose courage, and probably drop out eventually. Advocates of bilingual education helped in the passing of the Bilingual Education Act in 1968, but schools have not obeyed it. Many schools with English-language learners do not have ESL classes for them. On February 2, 2009, a Texas court delayed a “court-ordered deadline for state education officials to draft a new learning program for the estimated 140,000 secondary school students in Texas with limited English skills”. This means that Texas may not have to come up with a new language program, effectively guaranteeing their dropout rate to increase. The shortage of liaisons could easily be remedied. College students could fix this problem by adding Spanish or another language as their minor, as thus be certified to be a liaison. Also, advocates of bilingual education need to push harder for the implementation of bilingual education programs where they do not already exist.