| By the late 19th century, educational debates | | | | unfortunate, that include the children of the |
| were still echoing on "who was to be educated?" | | | | immigrants. |
| and "how this education was to be carried out?" | | | | Bilingual Education |
| Such philosophers as John Dewey and (closer to | | | | |
| us) Jean Piaget understood that "all knowledge has | | | | History & Rationale. As children of the lower |
| a special origin and the interests of the child are | | | | class were failing in school and in life, bilingual |
| the primary source of learning" (Spring 1989). The | | | | education (originally) was not meant to rescue |
| same author said that after the Civil War black | | | | them. On the contrary, it was designed to catch |
| leaders, particularly W.E. Dubois and Booker T. | | | | up with the Soviets after their launching of the |
| Washington debated not the importance of | | | | Sputnik, the first manned satellite (Cazabon, 1993). |
| schooling but the kind of education for blacks. The | | | | Through the National Defense Education Act |
| latter, considered by many blacks as a traitor, | | | | (NDEA), the United States Government hoped to |
| would acquiesce with the 1895 Plessy v. Ferguson | | | | be competitive scientifically and technologically |
| decision that said under segregation schools can | | | | while being sophisticated in languages and cultures. |
| be separated and remained equal. According to | | | | As waves of immigrants kept crashing onto our |
| Perkinson (1991), Washington addressed publicly in | | | | shores, the Federal government passed a series |
| 1895, | | | | of legislations and decisions to deal with the |
| "....The Negro did not want social equality, that he | | | | problem among which the 1965 Elementary |
| did not need social equality with the whites. Nor | | | | & Secondary Education Act (to attack |
| did he want or need political or civil equality ... but | | | | poverty), the 1967 Bilingual Education, the 1974 |
| cooperation with their white friends. Negro | | | | Lau vs. Nichols (special aid to non-English speaking |
| education should be devoted to the practical | | | | pupils) and the 1980 Department of Education |
| education of earning a living." P.48 | | | | regulation (mandated Transitional Bilingual Education |
| But Dubois vehemently rejected that position and | | | | nationwide for limited English proficient students). |
| argued for equal rights. Meanwhile, diverse | | | | Despite all those efforts, Lambert held that there |
| segments of society had been restless protecting | | | | were two faces of Bilingualism; one for language |
| their interests after the inaction of Plessy v. | | | | minorities and the other for the mainstream |
| Ferguson. The US Supreme Court solved many | | | | Americans (Cazabon, 1993). To such conservative |
| cases in favor of minorities such as Peirce v. | | | | politicians as former Senator Hayakawa, Bilingual |
| Society of sisters (1922, unconstitutionality of | | | | Education would hinder the English development of |
| forcing public schooling only) or Virginia State | | | | immigrants (Minami & Kennedy, 1991). To |
| Board of Education v. Barnette (1940, | | | | those critics, Jim Cummings replied that students |
| unconstitutionality of forcing Jehovah Witness to | | | | who experienced a preschool program in which: a) |
| salute the flag). None of them delivered a blow to | | | | their cultural identity was reinforced, b) their was |
| the racist establishment more significant than | | | | active collaboration with parents; and c) meaningful |
| Brown v. Board of Education of (1954), which | | | | use of language was integrated into every aspect |
| stipulated that separate education was inherently | | | | of daily activities; these pupils were developing |
| unequal. That decision invigorated the position of | | | | high level of conceptual and linguistic skills in both |
| such minority leaders as Dr. Martin L. King who | | | | language. Supportively, Krashen (1983) indicated |
| had long said that the reality of equality will require | | | | that all languages are acquired the same way |
| extensive adjustments in the way of life of the | | | | through four development stages, namely silent |
| white majority, an adjustment many are unwilling | | | | period or comprehension, early production, speech |
| to make", ( Smith & Chunn, 1989). The | | | | emergence, and intermediate fluency. Given time, |
| Brown decision opened the valve for a flurry of | | | | a comprehensible input, and a lower affective filter |
| other specific legislations to right the educational | | | | (anxiety-free) the young immigrant will excel. |
| wrongs done to minorities. For, Perkinson (1991) | | | | The situation of bilingual education let to believe |
| stated that black parents realized that their | | | | that the authorities either want to assimilate |
| children were failing in schools not because they | | | | every child into the main culture or to create bad |
| were culturally deprived but because the schools | | | | cases of bilingual programs for the minorities |
| were incompetent to teach black students who, | | | | where they would be proficient in neither language. |
| indeed, had a culture, a different culture. | | | | In reply Skutnabb-Kangas (1986) had put forward |
| I remain convinced that, on the part of many | | | | the Declaration of Linguistic Human Rights (the |
| folks, it was not a matter of how to educate our | | | | rights to identify with, to learn, and to choose |
| culturally different children, but a deliberate case | | | | when to use one's mother tongue), especially in |
| of not willing to do so. If we take, for example, | | | | relation to small children, where it "is close to |
| Shor and Freire (1987), "It is not education which | | | | criminal, real psychological torture to use |
| shapes society, but on the contrary, it is society | | | | monolingual teachers who do not understand what |
| that shapes education according to the interests | | | | the child has to say in her mother tongue" |
| of those who have power" p.35; and Perkinson | | | | (Skutnabb-Kangas & Cummins, 1986) p.28. |
| (1991) "By 1965 the schools had polarized | | | | Nonetheless, they registered many cases of |
| American society into self-satisfied whites and | | | | positive as well as negative bilingual programs. The |
| victimized blacks, into despondent city dwellers | | | | additive (positive) Bilingualism has been mostly |
| and indifferent suburb amenities by identifying and | | | | experienced abroad, whereas most of the |
| creating winners and losers" p.220, we shall see | | | | subtractive ones have been found in the United |
| that these points of view (Freire/Shor's and | | | | States. |
| Perkinson's) are in direct contradiction while both | | | | Models of Bilingual Programs. |
| being sensitive and in the interests of the | | | | |