Bilingual education was a by-product of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, when Latino activists began to protest the circumstances that were contributing to the unacceptably high dropout rates among Spanish-speaking children attending school. Using the strategies of the civil rights movement, Latino leaders called for legislation to address the needs of Spanish-speaking children, i.e. Cubans in Florida, Mexicans along the southern border and Puerto Ricans in the Northeast. Their efforts resulted in Congress approving the Bilingual Education Act, in 1968. The initial purpose of the Act was to help poor Mexican-American children learn English. Eventually, its goal became to make its target population of children fully literate in English. It was not intended to keep any specific language alive or create areas, throughout the country, with different languages. Bilingual education was supposed to be a special effort to help immigrant children learn English so that they comply with regular schoolwork, with their English-speaking classmates, and receive an equal educational opportunity.
When instituted the goal of bilingual education it was to encourage a mastery of the English language and to enhance academic achievement in mainstream classrooms. These should still be the same goals today. Bilingual education has helped to heighten the awareness of the needs of immigrant, migrant and refugee children. Many still agree that these children are entitled to special help. It must be acknowledged that the economic well-being of our society depends on maintaining a literate population with the capacity for higher education and the ability to fill positions for skilled jobs.
Another positive result of bilingual education has been the hiring, and training, of paraprofessionals who are often the parents of bilingual children, as classroom aides. Bilingual education has resulted in the creation of career programs that pay for college tuition, for these paraprofessionals, so that they can qualify as teachers. This, in turn, has led to attracting more teachers from immigrant communities. There are also many large school districts that have bilingual professionals on their staffs of psychologists, speech therapists, social workers, and other specialists.
Finally, bilingual education has helped to promote parental understanding of American schools and has encouraged parental involvement in school activities. Also, as a result of bilingual education funding, educators have received training on the historical and cultural backgrounds of the growing and varied ethnic communities in their districts. This training has resulted in a greater understanding of, and respect for, the non-English-speaking children, who participate in the program, and a greater understanding of their families. Today, teachers and school administrators make an effort to communicate with parents who have a limited command of English, by sending letters and school information to them at home in their native languages and by employing interpreters when necessary for parent-teacher conferences.
It is for all these reasons that bilingual education is still necessary to help and assist the ever growing numbers of persons from around the world who are still coming to the United States to enjoy freedom and democracy.
