美国国家公共电台 NPR After Nearly 2 Decades, Californians Revisit Ban On Bilingual Education

After Nearly 2 Decades, Californians Revisit Ban On Bilingual Education

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Bilingual education in California's public schools is restricted thanks to a measure that voters passed nearly 20 years ago. This November 8, California voters will be asked to roll back those restrictions². Proposition 58 would end the mandate³ for English-only instruction and allow schools to teach students in their native language as well as English. NPR's Claudio Sanchez reports.

CLAUDIO SANCHEZ, BYLINE⁴: Near Skid⁵ Row in downtown Los Angeles, Alice Callaghan has spent decades working with mostly Mexican and Guatemalan families out of a tiny office that doubles as a school for a few dozen 4 and 5-year-olds.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILDREN: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic...

SANCHEZ: After the Pledge of Allegiance every morning, children scamper⁶ to their seats to work on phonics exercises, blended words, vocabulary and reciting classroom rules.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILDREN: If you make a mess, then clean it.

SANCHEZ: Not a word in Spanish is spoken or heard or written on the posters and word puzzles plastered on the walls. Many of these children's names have been anglicized. Callaghan, a former nun⁷ and self-described liberal, is proud to call this an English-only school.

ALICE CALLAGHAN: Almost all of our children are at the beginning level. When our children leave first grade, they're at the advanced level.

SANCHEZ: Callaghan and critics of bilingual instruction say it delays kids' ability to read, write and speak proper English.

CALLAGHAN: Think about it. Our children live in Spanish-speaking families, Spanish-speaking neighborhoods. They listen to Spanish-speaking television when they're home. If the school refuses to teach them English, where are they going to learn it? They're not going to go to college if they don't have academic English down well.

SANCHEZ: Well this criticism was widespread in 1998, the year that 61 percent of California voters passed Proposition 227. Callaghan was a key figure in that campaign against bilingual education and helped parents organize a boycott⁸ in 1996.

Now she worries that if Proposition 58 passes, schools in California will return to Spanish as the language of instruction for children who desperately⁹ need to master English first. That is an absolute distortion, says Ricardo Lara, a state senator from the Los Angeles area and author of Proposition 58.

RICARDO LARA: I believe that the English-only approach has failed a large portion of our students. In California, 1 out of 5 children are still not proficient¹⁰ in English.

SANCHEZ: And you can't blame bilingual education for that, says Lara, because so few schools have it. Besides, he says Proposition 58 is not about ramming¹¹ bilingual education down people's throats. School districts, for example, would still decide locally whether to offer bilingual education or not.

But parents who want it would not have to jump through all kinds of bureaucratic¹² hoops¹³ like they do now to get it. English-only instruction would remain an option. On this particular day, Lara's in his district visiting Aldama Elementary, where parents like Courtney McKitten say bilingual instruction has overwhelming support.

COURTNEY MCKITTEN: Learning the second language and, specifically, Spanish, because we live in LA, was very important. But we also were very motivated to go to a school that was integrated, where kids were not all just like my kid.

SANCHEZ: And that, says Ron Unz, is really what's driving Proposition 58.

RON UNZ: It's just an effort to satisfy the lobbying of all these affluent¹⁴ Anglo parents that want their children to learn Spanish.

SANCHEZ: Unz is the Silicon¹⁵ Valley millionaire who orchestrated the statewide campaign to restrict bilingual education in 1998. He insists bilingual instruction cheats poor, Latino immigrant children. But that's not going to stop Proposition 58 from passing.

UNZ: All that really will probably happen is a relatively¹⁶ small number of immigrant students will sort of get less English than they should get.

SANCHEZ: Still, Unz says he just can't imagine large numbers of immigrant parents flocking to bilingual programs based on what he calls the flawed notion that you have to build on children's home language in order to help them master English. Claudio Sanchez, NPR News.

1 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

2 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

3 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 skid   

v.打滑 n.滑向一侧；滑道 ，滑轨

参考例句：

• He braked suddenly,causing the front wheels to skid.他突然剎车，使得前轮打了滑。
• The police examined the skid marks to see how fast the car had been travelling.警察检查了车轮滑行痕迹，以判断汽车当时开得有多快。

6 scamper   

v.奔跑，快跑

参考例句：

• She loves to scamper through the woods of the forest.她喜欢在森林里的树林中穿梭嬉戏。
• The flash sent the foxes scampering away.闪光惊得狐狸四处逃窜。

7 nun   

n.修女，尼姑

参考例句：

• I can't believe that the famous singer has become a nun.我无法相信那个著名的歌星已做了修女。
• She shaved her head and became a nun.她削发为尼。

8 boycott   

n./v.(联合)抵制，拒绝参与

参考例句：

• We put the production under a boycott.我们联合抵制该商品。
• The boycott lasts a year until the Victoria board permitsreturn.这个抗争持续了一年直到维多利亚教育局妥协为止。

9 desperately   

adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地

参考例句：

• He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
• He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。

10 proficient   

adj.熟练的，精通的；n.能手，专家

参考例句：

• She is proficient at swimming.她精通游泳。
• I think I'm quite proficient in both written and spoken English.我认为我在英语读写方面相当熟练。

11 ramming   

n.打结炉底v.夯实（土等）( ram的现在分词 )；猛撞；猛压；反复灌输

参考例句：

• They are ramming earth down. 他们在夯实泥土。 来自辞典例句
• Father keeps ramming it down my throat that I should become a doctor. 父亲一直逼我当医生。 来自辞典例句

12 bureaucratic   

adj.官僚的，繁文缛节的

参考例句：

• The sweat of labour washed away his bureaucratic airs.劳动的汗水冲掉了他身上的官气。
• In this company you have to go through complex bureaucratic procedures just to get a new pencil.在这个公司里即使是领一支新铅笔，也必须通过繁琐的手续。

13 hoops   

n.箍( hoop的名词复数 )；（篮球）篮圈；（旧时儿童玩的）大环子；（两端埋在地里的）小铁弓

参考例句：

• a barrel bound with iron hoops 用铁箍箍紧的桶
• Hoops in Paris were wider this season and skirts were shorter. 在巴黎，这个季节的裙圈比较宽大，裙裾却短一些。 来自飘（部分）

14 affluent   

adj.富裕的，富有的，丰富的，富饶的

参考例句：

• He hails from an affluent background.他出身于一个富有的家庭。
• His parents were very affluent.他的父母很富裕。

15 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

16 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。