My mistake about Proposition 227 on bilingualism in California

Wed Feb 13 17:45:05 UTC 2008

All,

I recently forwarded the following item, thinking it was recent I thought I
saw today's date on it
somewhere, but it turns out to be 10 years old! Sorry for misleading anyone.

HS

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Harold F. Schiffman <haroldfs at ccat.sas.upenn.edu>
Date: Feb 13, 2008 10:35 AM
Subject: California: The Reply, It Turned Out, Was Bilingual: No
To: Language Policy-List <lgpolicy-list at ccat.sas.upenn.edu>

June 5, 1998
The Reply, It Turned Out, Was Bilingual: No
By DON TERRY

English can still be a riddle to 60-year-old Rosario Gomez, even after
three decades here in a house with red and yellow roses in the front yard
on Chicago Street. But her two adult children, both of whom were born in
Los Angeles and enrolled in bilingual education classes in grade school,
have good jobs, bright futures and are literate and fluent in English and
Spanish.

That, Mrs. Gomez explained, is why her family voted ''no'' in Tuesday's
primary election here on Proposition 227, the nationally watched
initiative that will dismantle 30 years of bilingual education in
California. The measure easily passed with 61 percent of the vote. But
despite pre-election polls suggesting it would also carry a majority of
Hispanic voters, fewer than 4 in 10 Hispanic Californians who voted
favored the proposition in the end, after a blitz against the measure by
almost every elected Hispanic official in the state. Still, in more than
two dozen interviews on the largely Hispanic east side of Los Angeles,
even some of those who voted ''no,'' like Mrs. Gomez's daughter, Elva
Osorio, expressed deep concern about the state of bilingual education.

''When I was in school, bilingual education was much better than it is
now,'' Mrs. Osorio said. ''I voted 'no,' but I knew it was going to lose,
because a lot of people are upset that their kids don't know how to speak
English and they're in the fifth grade.'' Getting Hispanic Californians
like the Gomez family to vote ''yes'' was a priority for Ron Unz, a
conservative Republican and the main sponsor and financial backer of the
measure, which will essentially eliminate bilingual education in the state
if it survives court challenges. His campaign spent a lot of time and
energy wooing Hispanic voters, hoping to avoid the racially charged
atmosphere that surrounded earlier ballot initiative drives in California,
on subjects like affirmative action.

Yet, despite those efforts, words like ''racism,'' ''prejudice'' and
''discrimination'' often came up in interviews after Tuesday's balloting.
''I believe it is racism towards us,'' said Rito Mateos, a 32-year-old
gardener, who voted ''no.'' ''This is a threat to the community. It's not
going to stop here.'' Mrs. Gomez said she knew of no one on her block who
had voted supported the measure. ''I think it passed because a lot of
American people are tired of us,'' she said.

No matter how they voted, the Hispanic parents, telephone operators,
construction workers and others interviewed agreed on one issue: for
immigrant children, whether they are from Mexico or Vietnam, the key to
unlocking the treasures of the United States is to learn English as
quickly as possible. ''I voted 'no,' but it was hard for me to make up my
mind,'' said Gloria Luna, 65, whose great-grandmother was ''born in this
state when it was Mexico.''

Mrs. Luna said she decided to vote against the measure because so many
educators opposed it, saying its provision to provide non-English
speaking-public school children with only one year of intensive language
training before sending them into mainstream classes would do more harm
than good. ''It is so important for Hispanics to learn English,'' Mrs.
Luna said, ''but one year is much too fast.''

Like Mrs. Gomez and Mr. Mateos, Mrs. Luna said she suspected that
prejudice, not pedagogy, was at the root of the campaign to eliminate
bilingual education. ''I think a lot of people who voted don't know
anything about education,'' Mrs. Luna said. Steve Feria, 44, agreed with
Mrs. Luna, up to a point. A flight instructor, Mr. Feria was working in
his family's wallet stand on Olvera Street when he took time to talk about
the initiative. He said anyone with the slightest knowledge of education
would have voted supported Proposition 227 -- as he did.

''I honestly believe, the only way to learn English is to be immersed in
it,'' said Mr. Feria, who did not take part in bilingual classes when he
was in school. ''I wouldn't have a job as a flight instructor if I didn't
have the proper English skills.'' Mr. Feria said the teachers and
politicians who opposed the measure did so because they were afraid they
would lose their money and influence if bilingual education was
eliminated. ''It's all a money grab,'' Mr. Feria said. ''We do our kids a
disfavor by putting them in bilingual education.''

As she walked through Olvera Street near downtown, Mirian Luis, 22, a
paralegal's assistant, said she voted ''no'' because her nieces and
nephews were doing well in bilingual education programs. ''It's a joke,''
Ms. Luis said of the proposition. ''I mean, how are the kids going to
learn?'' A few miles away, on Cesar E. Chavez Avenue, George Ramos was
hanging orange and yellow fliers, balloons and a Mexican flag advertising
his travel business. He voted ''yes'' on Proposition 226, because, he
said, ''This is a America.''

''Everyone is supposed to speak English,'' Mr. Ramos said. ''If you go to
France, you don't ask for bilingual education. If you go to China, you can
not request bilingual education. They will kick you out of there.'' At El
Mercado, a warehouse-like complex of shops and restaurants not far from
Chavez Avenue, Manuel Romero, a retired General Motors worker, said he
voted for the proposition because there were not enough qualified teachers
to staff bilingual education programs adequately.

In fact, the state Department of Education said it was 20,000 bilingual
education teachers short of what it needed. The state said there were 1.4
million public school pupils with limited English skills in California.
Thirty percent of those students are in bilingual classes. ''If we had
quality teachers,'' Mr. Romero said, ''it would be O.K.'' Jerry and Diana
Ontiveros voted ''no.'' They grew up in a largely white neighborhood in
Whittier and attended Roman Catholic schools before going to college and
getting married. They did not take part in bilingual programs. They were
surrounded by English speakers everywhere they went, which is not the case
for many immigrant children who often live in segregated and isolated
neighborhoods.

''I've been assimilated into the mainstream culture all of my life,'' Mr.
Ontiveros said. ''Others haven't had the opportunities I've had and that's
why I support bilingual education.'' Ramon Moreno, a 30-year-old teacher's
assistant, said he voted for the proposition. ''I felt like maybe
bilingual education is like a handicap or something,'' Mr. Moreno said.
''It gives the kids too much leeway not to learn.'' Maria Tovar said she
voted for Proposition 227, but by mistake.

Ms. Tovar said she supported bilingual education and thought that a
''yes'' vote meant saving it. When she came to the United States 25 years
ago at the age of 14, Ms.  Tovar said, she did not speak or understand
English and struggled in school to learn without a bilingual program.
Several of her classmates were not as determined, she said, and they
dropped out, never learning the language. ''It was very, very tough,'' she
said, ''trying to learn English without bilingual education.''

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D06E2DD113BF936A35755C0A96E958260&scp=9&sq=wooing+hispanics&st=nyt
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Harold F. Schiffman

Professor Emeritus of
Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
Dept. of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

Phone:  (215) 898-7475
Fax:  (215) 573-2138

Email:  haroldfs at gmail.com
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/

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