Letters

Summer 2003

Bilingual Ed Struggles

In regards to "Colorado Upholds Right to Bilingual Education," the Board of Directors for the Massachusetts Association of Teachers of Speakers of Other Languages (MATSOL) adds our own experience in fighting a similar voter referendum here in our state this past election year. We are a professional organization of 1,200 educators working with English language learners from kindergarten to adult across the state of Massachusetts, one of many organizations which came together to fight to preserve bilingual education in our state.

The battle against our own version of the Ron Un-sponsored initiative in our state was similar to that of Colorado. We organized grassroots organizations, held demonstrations, and did leafletting and phone banking. Our arguments against the initiative were similar: It is too costly, punitive for teachers, and destroys parent choice. We were even successful in passing a new law that would have reformed the education of English language learners. That new law has now been superceded by the Unz initiative. We lacked the resources to have our message heard on the grand scale that Colorado had, specifically a single $3 million donation. However, 94 percent of Latinos in exit polling voted against the question, indicating that those communities most affected by the dismantling of existing programs supported the programs and their schools. The democratic process failed our communities and thus gives the appearance of tyranny by the majority.

While we by no means wish to diminish the organizing success of the efforts of our colleagues in Colorado, the contrast between the two states shows that money does matter. Our communities, while mobilized to do battle against this initiative, lacked significant resources to accomplish the job. We, however, are ready to continue our work, because as Cesar Chavez said, "Our struggle is not easy. Those who oppose our cause are rich and powerful and they have many allies in high places. We are poor. Our allies are few. But we have something the rich do not own. We have our bodies and spirits and the justice of our cause as our weapons."

Carlos Matos and Margaret Adams Massachusetts Association of Teachers of Speakers of Other Languages

Bilingual Education Works

Padres Unidos ("Colorado Upholds Right to Bilingual Education," Spring 2003, p. 20) noted that different groups were approached with different reasons for voting against Amendment 31, the anti-bilingual education initiative, and they listed several very good reasons: The Unz proposal was indeed too costly, too punitive, and too restrictive, and it would have hurt development of the heritage language.

A very important reason for supporting bilingual education, however, was missing, a reason that should appeal to everybody: It works. Children in bilingual education program acquire as least as much English as children in all-English immersion programs, and typically acquire more. Research done in the United States shows this is the case, and research done in other countries confirms that bilingual programs are good for second language acquisition. Research also shows that children in bilingual programs drop out less often than comparison students in all-English programs.

Campaigns such as the one we just experienced in Colorado are an excellent opportunity to tell the public about this little-known fact. If we fail to take advantage of such temporary platforms, we encourage future attacks on bilingual education that simply avoid the costly, punitive, and restrictive aspects of Amendment 31.

Stephen Krashen Professor Emeritus of Education University of Southern California

Summer 2003