Bilingual education is certainly no stranger to scandal. There are many viewpoints out there for this specific type of education. Usually this debate is very high-minded and mired down in aspects of academia. However, The NY Times recently brougt this debate back down to earth with a story about two different schools with high immigrant populations that are being closed and broken down into smaller schools. The problem with is is that bilingual education will not likely continue in these smaller schools.
“It would contain three new schools — one emphasizing sports management, another focusing on film and music, and a third offering “expeditionary learning” under the aegis of Outward Bound. None will offer bilingual instruction, at least at the outset.” (Freedman, Feb 14, 2007)
It seems odd to me that the school district can find the means and money to have two new schools devoted to quite limited and specialized academic areas, and yet not have room for bilingual education that would serve much of their student population. I don’t believe this is a new problem, in fact I know its not. So why haven’t we learned how to deal with this yet? America is an immigrant country, and as stated in the article NY is an immigrant city. Surely the schools districts could have devised a way by now to educate their population.
The current path is to offer students a Multicultural school, which sounds wonderful except that:
“even now, less than two weeks before eighth graders throughout the city must submit their applications to high schools, the department has not revealed the location of that school, the Multicultural High School. For all any parent or child knows at this point, it could be anywhere from Bay Ridge to Brownsville.” (Freedman,Feb 14, 2007)
This is not just an issue that affects school location and student life, but it also affects NCLB. ELL students are required to take the same test as their English speaking counterparts. So why would a school want to do away with a program that would help these students succeed on the test that the school is measured by? Without the chance to catch up in school by being taught in their own language while in transition these kids won’t perform to their full potential on the NCLB test. It seems that the schools are only hurting themselves with this move. They are dispersing a school population and creating new schools that don’t serve a specific need in the community and they are taking away a resource that would help their school’s test scores improve. The article didn’t mention a lot about lack of resources or anything in that vain. So why is this happening and what will happen to these students?
“On Different Page With Bilingual Education”
New York Times- Feb 14, 2007
By: Samuel G. Feedman
I notice that this is an entry for 311, but as promised, I shall comment anyway!
In a country with schools that seem to be dictated by scores and benchmarks and where funding is limited, it seems completely counterintuitive to me that a school such as this WOULDN’T offer a bilingual education program. Funneling money away from the students that really need help is ridiculous! What administrator in his/her right mind would say, “Hey, forgot those ELLs. We have a sports management school to worry about?” Honestly, it makes no sense to me.
I think a lot of it has to do with what we were talking about in class the other day. Schools want to look appealing. Specialized academic areas make the school look good. But any Joe Schmoe will tell you that this sort of outward appearance means nothing if half the school can’t speak any English and aren’t able to participate in specialized academics.
I’ll stop, but I really loved this entry! Awesome find, Hannah!
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