When my family immigrated to the United States from Cambodia in 1990, I
struggled to adapt to American culture. When I began school, the first day
was a nightmare, not because I was afraid of meeting new kids but I was
afraid my classmates would not accept me since I did not speak a word of
English.
I attended Estabrook elementary school in Lexington, MA, an affluent suburb
of Boston. Lexington prides itself on its public schools, but while it is
generally quite progressive, there was (and is) no Bilingual Education
program there. I was unable to communicate with my classmates and my teacher
for months, and as a result. I dreaded every day of school. No one there
could provide a reassuring word in my native language, and a simple question
like “where is the bathroom?” left me in a painfully awkward situation. My
kindergarten teacher was unable to understand my needs. In school, I was a
young boy left to struggle alone and confused, desperately trying to adjust
to American culture. In many ways I felt that I spent most of my elementary
education alone despite being surrounded by classmates.
Many other Cambodian refugees had settled in Lowell, MA, only half an hour
away from my home in Lexington. A bilingual education program was
established there to help kids in my situation. As a result many of them
picked up English faster than I had; they adjusted more easily to American
culture with the help of their bilingual education teachers who could
explain concepts to them in the context of their own culture and background.
Several of my aunts, after arriving to the United States, went to college
and got degrees in education and ended up teaching bilingual students. Not
only did bilingual education help students learn English faster, but it
provided a number of jobs for new refugees and immigrants.
When Mitt Romney was elected governor of the state of Massachusetts and
announced that part of the tax cut was the destruction of Bilingual
Education, I was left wondering why someone would want to destroy a program
that had helped so many kids learn English and adjust to their new lives in
America. According to research done by the Arizona Department of Education,
third year students who were enrolled in Bilingual Education programs
learned English faster and scored better on the Stanford 9 achievement test
than those who were enrolled in English Only programs. Based on my personal
experience, this statistic did not surprise me at all. I found this fact
quiet similar to my experience. It took years before I was truly able to
converse in English, whereas my relatives, even cousins my same age, were
able to converse fluently and hold conversations with American adults. When
I talk to my cousins about their bilingual education program, they all
stated the same thing: if it weren’t for bilingual education, they would
have struggled to interact with the other kids in the neighborhood—they
would have remained isolated and marginalized.
Looking back at my childhood, I think things would have been easier for me
had I been enrolled in a similar program. Even though my elementary school
had predominantly English speaking students, there were still those like me
who deeply felt the absence of any bilingual education program. Had
bilingual education existed in my elementary school, I don’t think I would
have spent so much of my time being confused by the culture and new
environment in which I lived in. I wouldn't have isolated myself from the
people around me.
I strongly believe that Mitt Romney is making a big mistake in eliminating
Massachusetts’ bilingual education due to budget concerns. If the programs
continue to exist they would not only provide jobs for a handful of
educators but they would also continue to help minority students adjust to
American culture and succeed in the American public schools.
As a student who plans to continue education next fall, I’ve learned to
value education. It is especially important to put an emphasis on education
for children from minority groups because many come from socio-economically
disadvantaged environments that do not prioritize education. Yet many will
agree that education is necessary to improve these environments, to rise
above disadvantage. One of the greatest things that bilingual education
emphasizes is how essential education is in today’s society. It would be a
loss for Massachusetts and all of the students of Massachusetts public
schools to destroy the bilingual education programs that have done so much
to help so many.
Published in January 2004 in Perspectives: Massachusetts Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development fostering instructional and curriculum leadership in Massachusetts.
Copyright © 2003 Compassion