Posted on 11/07/2016 3:56:17 PM PST by Altura Ct.
California isn’t even close to a swing state in the 2016 presidential election, but that doesn’t mean nothing is at stake for voters in the nation’s largest state.
After Tuesday’s vote, hundreds of thousands of California schoolchildren may start attending classes primarily en español, thanks to a voter referendum that would repeal the requirement that schools teach primarily in English.
California’s Proposition 58 would repeal Proposition 227, a measure that easily passed nearly two decades ago, in 1998. Proposition 227 required all public schools in the state teach “overwhelmingly” in English, with limited-English proficiency (LEP) students transitioning to fully English classes as quickly as possible.
When passed, Proposition 227 overthrew the previous norm of bilingual education. The stated intent of bilingual education is to keep non-English speakers from falling behind academically by primarily teaching in their native language, and only gradually transitioning them over several years into English instruction.
Such education was widespread in California prior to 1998, thanks to the state’s large Hispanic immigration population, but often its stated intent fell far short of reality. In numerous schools, students made very little progress in learning English and reached middle school or high school while still lacking fluency.
In 1996, dozens of students at Ninth Street School in Los Angeles were yanked from class by their parents in protest over their near-total failure to acquire English despite years of lessons. The parents demanded that their students be placed in more all-English classes in order to speed their assimilation into the English-speaking mainstream.
Opponents of Proposition 227 warned that it would destroy the academic viability of English-learning students, but if anything the opposite ended up being the case. In the town of Oceanside, administrators embraced English immersion, and found that students’ performance on state reading tests surged dramatically in just a few years. In the neighboring town of Vista, which was otherwise nearly identical, school officials fought hard to preserve bilingual education by liberally granting waivers from the law. Vista saw none of the academic gains Oceanside did, and after years of resistance, the city finally gave up and switched to full English immersion.
Across the state, the English proficiency of LEP students tripled in just a few years, and math scores rose as well.
But now, with California’s immigrant population higher than ever, the state is poised to reverse course.
Polls indicate the Proposition 58 is likely to pass. Ironically, supporters of the measure place an emphasis on English rather than foreign tongues. They argue that the bill will allow for “dual immersion” programs, where both native English and native Spanish speakers can learn in a bilingual environment. In the long run, they argue, this will increase multilingualism and provide the state with a competitive advantage.
Supporters also claim that returning to bilingual education will improve students’ English acquisition; favorable ads emphasize that Proposition 58 will ensure that “all students learn English.”
But the primary thrust of the proposition is clear: Students from non-English homes will find it far easier to have their children be primarily taught in their native tongue, while spending far less time learning English.
They’re getting ready for Aztlan.
Just give California and its debt to Mexico. We don’t need it.
The sooner, the better.
California can secede peacefully. Good riddance!
sounds like a deal
You got that right. La Reconquista in full array. At some point, California will vote to become a territory of Mexico.
I say on that day we make Mexico a territory of Los Estados Unitodos.
In the long run, they argue, this will increase multilingualism and provide the state with a competitive advantage....
Yeah, cause all high tech jobs require spanish /s
This will damage both groups but hey, it’s CA.
Give California back to Mexico and be done with it.
Mexican notables proposed that to General Scott during the US Army’s brief occupation of Mexico & Mexico City at the close of the Mexican War. There was no support for that in Congress & little by the Polk administration.
Yes. Voted against this.
It is worded deceptively to fool the gullible Gringos (um, me).
But it’s part of the relentless, hate driven push of the Reconquistadores in the state legislature to try to Mexicanize California yet more.
“You gonna speak-a de Spanish!” they yelled at me 25 years ago. They never stop trying to make that true.
Only give LA and San Fran to Mexico...and Destroy all powerlines, dams, aqueducts, and roads, and any other infrastructure first.
California deserves this since its voters has been reliably voting for the Democrats for years
California is a State in the United States of America. We speak American English here!!!!
It is OK to offer bilingual English/Spanish language classes. Such classes are a good idea, and provide enrichment. However, it is NOT a good idea to teach everything primarily in Spanish!!!!
If they mandated that, soon there would be Arabic language schools, including Qur’anic instruction and Sharia law—hijabs, prohibition of pork, and all!!!!
Besides that, we need school choice—NOT one-size-fits-all public schools run by teachers’ unions, under Common Core. Then there would be room for Spanish-language schools. But EVERY child in the USA MUST be able to communicate in American English, which is our language!!!!
California, the state I was born and raised in — and I had the good sense to get the hell out of almost 40 years ago — is not even part of the United States anymore.
My grandson started kindergarten in Oregon in a dual immersion school and came home crying everyday. I had gone to visit and they had a parent teacher meeting about it. I asked one of the Spanish speaking teachers why she thought the program was a good idea, and she said because it gave her a job.
There were few, if any, Spanish speaking residents in Corvallis. My daughter managed to transfer him to another school, then moved to Texas.
I left in 78.
I want my family to get out first, but otherwise I’m good with the US letting the southern half of CA peacefully separate from the country and joking with Mexico. By their actions, it’s quite clear they don’t view themselves as American anyway.
I support 58, however, I object to dual-immersion for native English speakers as Spanish, with its multitude of regional dialects, will never be a global language to the extent English is. And while I do support total immersion in English, dual-immersion disregards the YUGE Chinese/Japanese population of California in preference for those speaking Castilian spanish.
Text of Prop 58:
English Proficiency, Multilingual Education. Initiative Statute. Preserves the requirement that public schools ensure students obtain English language proficiency. Requires school districts to solicit parent/community input in developing language acquisition programs. Requires instruction to ensure English acquisition as rapidly and effectively as possible. Authorizes school districts to establish dual-language programs for both native and non-native English speakers. Fiscal impact: No notable fiscal effect on school districts or state government.
joking——> joining
Damned autocorrect
Inland California is Republican and American! And it is the home of our Western/Southwestern Serbian-American Orthodox Saint, Sebastian of Jackson!!!!
The US must keep it at all costs!!!!
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