Bilingual Education

     The two authors, Rodriguez and Collier, make different arguments about the topic of educating English language learners. Rodriquez argues that learning English creates individuality in the public world and if his teachers did not push him to learn English so much he would have delayed it and not have realized that he had the right to speak a public language. On the other hand, Collier argues that both languages should be appreciated in education and used to benefit the child's education.

    The first point I would like to make is that somewhere in the middle of these two perspectives is the perspective of Delpit. In the beginning of Rodriguez's article he says "I considered Spanish to be a private language. What I needed to learn in school was that I had the right- and the obligation- to speak the public language of los gringos." This reminded me much of how Delpit discussed that she did not need her kids to be taught how to be black, she needed her kids to be taught how to survive a white mans world. Collier on the other hand states that "the classroom becomes the ideal setting to affirm the importance of home dialect and its appropriate use within the community in which it is spoken while at the same time students are taught the standard variety." This relates directly to the end of the Delpit reading where she discusses the classroom teacher that taught their students to appreciate both their native language and formal English. Although Delpit mainly discussed issues of race in education, similar views can be seen such as the previous two examples in both articles.

    My next point is that while both articles show different perspectives on this topic, I think they are both looking out for the best interest of the students. Rodriguez, from the point of view of a bilingual learner, felt that it was in his best interest to be pushed to primarily use English; even though admitedely he lost some of his private individuality. Collier on the other hand seems to value and want to protect the private individuality and claims that teaching both actually helps English language learners in the long run. I would like to point out that by following Rodriguez's perspective we are forcing assimilation into society and stressing how important it is but it is also trying to ensure that the child is successful in a world where you are seen as inferior if you do not speak English. By following Collier's ideology we are pushing to make a change against the norm of English being the superior language by instead educating students on the importance of multiple languages. As a music teacher, it is hard for me to form an opinion on which is the right choice or if one is more effective than the other. The amount of language I teach to students is limited since music draws from many languages and in some way is a language of its own. I will say that to me, Collier's argument feels like the right thing, but as a teacher I think I would want so badly for my students to succeed in the public world that I may attempt to drive English instruction as much as possible. I would also like to relate this to my experiences with my students. I have a fourth grade boy who spoke Arabic when he moved to the US last year during third grade. His classroom teacher sat him next to the chattiest English speaker and gave him lots of English instruction and this year his English is amazing and his confidence has grown so much in school and with his peers. On the other hand, there is a group of five Spanish speaking fifth grade girls who have been in the US for a range of 2-4 years. None of them can speak, read or write in English because there is one girl in their friend group who is bilingual and translates the questions and readings for them. So they answer any questions in Spanish whether it be verbal or written. Now they are clearly intelligent because they understand what they are learning but now they are going into middle school with no English knowledge and eventually they will fall behind even if it takes when they have to apply for college or a job. This limits the opportunities they have in this country. Since the teacher has allowed this and not pushed enough for them to learn English, I fear for their future. My main point is, there has to be a middle ground for students to be pushed to learn English and see the importance of it while still appreciating their own home language.

    Finally, I would like to make the point that I believe the biggest barrier in educating language to English language learners is the stigma that is associated with non-English speakers. If the stigma were significantly reduced or abolished I think our students would be much more successful. I am basing this on the combination of the articles where Rodriguez states he lost a sense of personal individuality by gaining his English proficiency and Collier who stresses the importance of learning both languages. This relates to how many other countries successfully educate bilingual students so by the time they graduate they are proficient in their native language and English. This is executed in other countries much better than it is in America and I believe the reason for this is the lack of stigma against their native language. Even though other countries may be making the choice to do so because they recognize that English is becoming a dominant language and it is much easier to be successful knowing English, they also don't diminish the worth of their native language and I think we need to adopt this point of view. Especially since in my eyes, knowing two languages is much more impressive than knowing one so why wouldn't you want to teach students two if possible? If you have the time, I recommend reading this article that discusses bilingual education in Europe.