Los Angeles Times

from Education Week

A Texas judge's remarks to a mother who spoke to her child in Spanish have sparked a national controversy. Bilingual-education advocates have asked the judge to apologize to all Hispanics, and have criticized him for a lack of understanding of their field.

Daily Free Press. When Maria E. Brisk came to America as a graduate student, she was lucky enough to be fluent in English as well as her native Spanish. But the Boston University professor realizes not every child has been awarded such a chance. Brisk said the nation will suffer later if it is unwilling to offer financial support for bilingual programs.

Denver Rocky Mtn. News

English is still being taught to immigrants but not in the manner and pace that nativists would like. The opponents of Bilingual Education feel that a child, regardless of age, must be placed in an intensive English-only learning environment, without regard to any other parts of the curriculum.

Congressman Wally Herger on English Immersion. My father grew up in a household where only Swiss German was spoken. When my father started school, however, he rapidly assimilated to the English language. And my father was the rule, not the exception.

Seattle Times.

The evolution of the bilingual education debate from its origin in the Civil Rights Act (1964) and the Bilingual Education Act (1968).

Los Angeles Times - Hundreds of students whose parents have petitioned for bilingual education in the Los Angeles school system are in limbo while principals try to arrange bilingual classes.

A number of articles about the issue from the Intercultural Development Research Association.

An article from Education Week which examines different bilingual program models and reviews the debate over bilingual education. Includes links to related Education Week articles.

Reason magazine: The many failures of bilingual education.

Massachusetts has over 40,000 bilingual education students, and is one of only nine states in the US to require bilingual education in all districts where there is a sufficient number of students who are not proficient in English.

An excellent examination of the debate over bilingual education by PBS.

Los Angeles Times. As the debate over bilingual education bounds toward a spring ballot initiative, two studies scheduled to be released today land on the side of teaching children in their native language first, then gradually switching to English. However, critics of bilingual education and even some supporters raised questions about the studies.

Now that Proposition 227 has been approved, how should it be implemented?

Atlantic Monthly: Why even Latino parents are rejecting bilingual education.

Hispanic Magazine. From a teacher's standpoint, there is no debate regarding bilingual education: Students' understanding in their native tongue makes school subjects accessible. Even though those in the classroom ought to know the situation best, politicians continue to politicize and debate the issue.

Commentary by Domenico Maceri, The Denver Business Journal.

Article by Rosalie Pedalino Porter of the READ Institute arguing that bilingual education represents a radically departure from treatment of earlier generations of immigrant children and a form of segregation.

Washington Post article about the Clinton administration's declaration of "black English" as a form of slang, and therefore programs which teach otherwise cannot do so with federal money intended for bilingual education.