Angel Doughty

Language and Language Development

February 20, 2016

History of No Child Left Behind and Bilingual Education

So often in our nations history our government has acted in a
defensive and reactionary manner. This is evident in many aspects of our
history from our founding to our current political parties with differing
personal and social agendas. There has always been a great divide among
the people of this nation. So much so, that I wonder how we even manage to
remain one nation. This type of reactionary governing is hurtfully evident in
the direction that bilingual and cross-cultural education has taken over the
course of history. This is evident in pur education system in two main issues.
NCLB and the cultural fear that this nation has carried for hundreds of years.
Our education system has been the pawn of politics since the inception
of our great nation. Education was seen, and in many cases still is seen as
something that is for the elite and brilliant. Something that can be used to
separate the classes without calling attention to the fact that we really do
have a class system in this country. It is almost like the elephant in the room.
The best and brightest (or best connected) kids are able to continue their
education as far as their dreams, or wallets will take them. I often feel like I
have a very cynical view of our education system. Dont get me wrong. I am

grateful for the few visionaries that have gone before us and provided that
education is a right not a privilege. This was not always the case. For
example, in 1779 Thomas Jefferson proposes a two-track educational system, with
different tracks in his words for "the laboring and the learned." Scholarship would
allow a very few of the laboring class to advance, Jefferson says, by "raking a few
geniuses from the rubbish." (Center for Racial Injustice) Many Would argue that that
is not the case in todays education system. I would love to believe that it is not
true, however the dismal numbers of low socio-economic and students of color that
attend 4 year institutions and the supports in place for these students suggests
otherwise. It has only been within the last 60 or years that equal education has
been mandated. Brown v. Board of Education in 1963 forced schools to provide
equal education to students of all races. I am thankful that so many people risked
their lives and livelihoods to champion a cause that sparked the recent legislation
we have today. IDEA, NCLB, the Dream Act, all of the progressive movements of

education stem from that one act. Not all of the legislation has been 100%
successful. NCLB as it stood since 2002 looked great on paper. Thats the
funny thing about paper, it isnt reality. You cant expect to make sweeping
changes and expect the career teacher and institutions to be successful
without proper training.
It is true that many of the schools needed the reforms. However, the
inherent flaw in NCLB is that it withheld funding from the failing schools that
needed it the most. Look at this from a business perspective. You have a
company that has many divisions and products. You have some divisions that
are hugely successful, and some that are costing the company dearly. As a

CEO you would research what is right in the successful divisions and then
take that success to support your failing divisions. That takes training, that
takes support, and bottom line, that takes funding. What NCLB did is the
exact opposite. For 24 years, it has withheld funding, training and support
from the communities that need it the most. From the teachers,
administrators and most of all the families that need it the most. I am so
thankful that with the repeal of NCLB, these societal problems can be
addressed.
Along with the desegregation of schools comes the age old issue of
multi-culturalism. I find it so interesting that a nation that was founded on
our differences and touted itself as the melting pot of the world has held on
to the fear of multi-culturalism. You hear all the time, If they want to live
here, they need to learn English. If they want to live here, they need to
become American. If they want to be successful, they need to learn our
ways. These types of sentiment disgust me. There is no official language of
the United States, there is no official race or culture. The original 13 colonies
were all different. Founded by differing religions and viewpoints. 13 separate
nations if you will. Over 200 years ago, these leaders decided that to
become successful, they needed to become 1. Again, on paper this was
wonderful. All men are created equal (But only if you were really a MAN,
and white, and oh yes! Dont forget you had to own land.) Life, Liberty and
the pursuit of Happiness (Who gets to decide what happy is?) As our history
progresses, things did become melded. Languages and differences were

embraced to an extent. Other languages were taught in public schools, if not

formally, at least by each other. As the world changed and we moved into
the WWI era, that outward fear once again became reality. Ovando sums it
up in the restrictive period. When the country declared war on Germany
during World War I, the resulting anti-German hostility caused the United
States to push for monolingualism, and the teaching of German as a foreign
language was eliminated in most school districts because pro-melting pot
ideologues portrayed it as un-American. (pg. 8) This type of thinking came
very close to costing our country its freedom. While this push begun what is
now a hugely important EL program in schools, it went about it the wrong
way. Forcing people to leave their heritage behind and forcing them to
basically hide what had made them the productive citizens they are was
wrong. It has taken since that time to once again add the cultures into the
classrooms. It has taken that long to celebrate what makes us different.
By incorporating culture and diversity into our education programs,
while teaching our students the accepted language will only make us all
stronger as we move to a globally competitive marketplace. Embracing the
differences and learning from them is the only way that we can stay united
as a nation and build our culture of greatness based on the accomplishments
of all our people, not just based on the language they speak or the color of
their skin.

The Center for Racial Justice Innovation. Retrieved from:

https://www.raceforward.org/research/reports/historical-timeline-publiceducation-us (accessed on February 20, 2016)