Separating fact from fiction about education.
Informational series for business leaders, policy makers, community leaders and members of the media.
Fiction:
Bilingual education does not affect the average citizen.
What the fiction suggests:
There are no costs associated with the lack of effective bilingual education programs.
Some people believe that bilingual education influences only a small percentage of the U.S. public. But bilingual education is essential to successful education because it is the most effective way of teaching English to children who speak another language while they also learn other subjects.1 The United States prepares its children for a productive future through education. An IDRA study concluded that for every $1 spent on education, there is a return of $9.2
Good bilingual education programs help keep children in school and learning. In Texas alone, the dropout situation costs the state more than $17 billion in lost income and tax revenues, welfare, crime, incarceration, unemployment and job training each year.3
Language-diverse students who do not have the opportunity to participate in bilingual education programs face having low literacy rates. The National Center for Educational Statistics estimates that about 22 percent of adults - 42 million people - are illiterate.4 For language-diverse students to attain literacy, they must first learn to read in their home language and then apply that knowledge base to their second language of English.5
Fact:
Bilingual education helps to create an educated workforce.
What the truth means:
Language is a resource. Productive citizens equal a productive economy, which is in the best interest of all of us.
Bilingual education benefits not only language-diverse students, but also everyone in this country.6 Not too long ago, each person s economic situation depended on the national economy.7 But national borders do not determine financial success any longr.8 The need for routine production has declined because of improvements in production technology and relocation outside our borders. Such changes in our economy, technology and global trade demand a well-educated workforce as we enter the next century.9
Bilingual education is one of the many ways for schools to increase skills and competency levels among the new generation of the US workforce to benefit everyone. In two-way developmental bilingual education, for example, English speakers and language minority students are in the same classroom learning all grade-level skills in each others languages.10 Studies show that two-way programs are the most successful program models for language minority students, as well as for native English speakers.11
Bilingual education is a tool that fosters a successful future for the next generation of Americans.
"When [a student] cannot understand the language employed in the school, he cannot be said to have an educational opportunity in any sense."
– Irving Hill, dissenting judge, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (the court's ruling on Lau vs. Nicholas was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court)12
References
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Cárdenas, J.A. Multicultural Education: A Generation of Advocacy, Simon and Schuster, 1995.
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Ramirez, D. and M. Robledo Montecel. "The Economic Impact of the Dropout Program," IDRA Newsletter, Intercultural Development Research Association, April 1987.
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Cárdenas, J.A. and M. Robledo Montecel and J. Supik. Texas Dropout Survey Project, Intercultural Development Research Association, 1986.
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Montes, F. "Community Involvement Needed to Achieve Universal Literacy," IDRA Newsletter, Intercultural Development Research Association, September 1994.
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Symonds, M. "Literacy is Vital to Democracy," IDRA Newsletter, Intercultural Development Research Association, September 1994.
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Rodriguez, L.A. Why Bilingual Education? (Internet posting [http://www.ncbe.gwu.edu]) originally published in Teacher's Mac, November 1995.
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Reich, R. "Why the Rich are Getting Richer, and the Poor, Poorer," The Work of Nations, 1991.
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Reich, R. "Why the Rich are Getting Richer, and the Poor, Poorer," The Work of Nations, 1991.
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Reich, R. "Why the Rich are Getting Richer, and the Poor, Poorer," The Work of Nations, 1991.
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Collier, V.P. and W. Thomas. "Language Minority Student Achievement and Program Effectiveness," research summary of ongoing study, George Mason University, September 1995.
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Collier, V.P. and W. Thomas. "Language Minority Student Achievement and Program Effectiveness," research summary of ongoing study, George Mason University, September 1995.
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Irving Hill, dissenting judge, Lau vs. Nichols, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling (483 F.2d 791 [9th Cir. 1973]).
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Collier, V.P. and W. Thomas. "Language Minority Student Achievement and Program Effectiveness," research summary of ongoing study, George Mason University, September 1995.
© 1997.
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