Running head: BILINGUALISM IN AMERICA

Bilingualism in America Tommy Tinsley ETH/125 September 29, 2011 Makini Corlette

BILINGUALISM IN AMERICA

Bilingualism in America In 1996, the activity concerning the teaching of Spanish to students by Spanish speaking (bilingual) teachers came under fire at Ninth Street Elementary in Los Angeles, CA. They blamed bilingual education for the ineffectiveness of the children learning English. A group of parents pulled their children out of school in their bid to protesting the bilingual teaching habits. This began the fight for Proposal 227, the ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS INITIATIVE STATUTE. Even though the proposal was passed in June 3, 1998 it still is the subject of reform today, and so another battle of the educational, political, and community will question the challenges of bilingualism. And yet years before this, President Johnson signed into law The Bilingual Education Act, with no opposition. President Johnson signed into law The Bilingual Education Act after being passed by Congress. We have spent many years evaluating what this law meant to achieve. Was this 1968 law proposed chiefly to embrace limited English proficient children more proficiently? Was it to teach them English as quickly as thinkable? Was it to inspire bilingualism? Was it to cure educational underachievement and increase the amount of dropouts? Was it to increase self-esteem of minority children? Was it to endorse communal equality? Maybe, it was to track all the above at the same time? The governmental account concerning this bill offers no conclusive answers. Read these sites and see if you see the answer. http://www.policyalmanac.org/education/archive/bilingual.pdf,
http://www.onenation.org/crawford.html. And

so began the push for Proposal 227, and today

we still question even this law that in California became just that a new law ending (or trying to) bilingual teaching.

BILINGUALISM IN AMERICA

Resources English Language in Public Schools, Initiative Statute (1998), retrieved from http://primary98.sos.ca.gov/VoterGuide/Propositions/227.htm State of California, (June 2, 1998) Primary Proposition 227 English Languages in Public Schools Initiative Statute Put on the Ballot by Petition Signatures. Retrieved from http://www.smartvoter.org/1998jun/ca/state/prop/227/ Crawford, J. (1999). Disaster at the Polls Retrieved from http://www.onenation.org/crawford.html Osorio-ODea, P., (Updated June 7, 2001), Bilingual Education An Overview. Retrieved from http://www.policyalmanac.org/education/archive/bilingual.pdf