I really agree with Donaldo Macedo's points in Chapter 25. An English Only policy is not in the best interest of bilingual students. Although I do think it is important for these students to learn English in order to function in society, I also believe it is important to cultivate their thoughts in their native language as well. If we concentrate on making them learn and use only English in the school setting, they may not develop critical thinking skills because they can not express their ideas as fully in English as they can in their native language. Our society is so Anglo-centric and it alienates anyone who speaks a different language. This can make young students feel like their language and culture is inferior. Especially in middle school, when students are vulnerable to begin with, we should not add to this by demeaning their background. Our curriculum needs to embrace a variety of cultures, not just American culture.
A quote that I found particularly interesting in this article is that "speaking English has not enabled African-Americans to change this society's practice of jailing more Blacks than even South Africa, and this society spending over 7 billion dollars to keep African-American men in jail while spending only 1 billion dollars educating Black males." That's a staggering statistic. What would happen if we put that much money towards education?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hello Amanda. How goes it? I will be commenting on your blog if that is ok. This subject matter often uses the word assimilate. It suggests that the non-english speaker assimilate into the American culture through several mediums such as language, music, education, food, neighborhoods, etc. I think this is extremely important for them to do so, but only to a certain extent. I feel they shouldn't assimilate to the extent where they loose their identity. I think assimilation should be applied to both sides. There should be some sort of middle ground so values are not totally lost. This quote sort of applies to this situation "people don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care". That is exactly the problem, Amercians don't care for those who don't speak English at all or very well. This is a fundamental mindset that must change in order for ESL students to succeed in our classrooms. Unfortunately it is easier said than done. Ok, thats all, see you in class on Monday.
ReplyDeleteI was also really struck by the quote you pointed out. We as a nation seem to be so baffled about some of the immense problems our country faces. But when you look at the issue like the author points it out, with very obvious differences in spending and where our priorities lay, it seems the root of the problem is very apparent. Education, properly funded and intelligently, fairly thought out seems to be a great starting place for making progress for many of our nation's problems.
ReplyDelete