How do the factors of imaging or more specifically students self esteem, parental involvement, and teacher perceptions affect Latino children in the bilingual program of the following elementary schools: Community Park, West Windsor, Johnston Park and Riverside elementary? These elementary schools are located in Princeton, NJ with the exception of West Windsor that is located in the next township, a few minutes outside of Princeton. At a young age, childrenís self esteem is affected by the acceptance that the adults in their lives display and that of the community that they are involved (Katz,1). We expected that the major factors that would contribute to a childís esteem were family values, the level of education the parents achieved, the socioeconomic situation of the family, social contacts, the cultural atmosphere in the home, and religious beliefs. These were items that we felt would affect the childís acceptance in society by those influential adults. In order to test our hypothesis we first administered surveys to the congregation during Spanish mass at St. Paulís church. The church was attended by members of our group on occasion and our knowledge of some of the membership would make people willing to help out with our research. The church was also a location where families attended as a unit and we needed to conduct research on entire families in order to test our hypothesis. The results we obtained from the surveys did not provide conclusive results. The original questions that we administered were open ended and the responses to them provided us with nothing more than one word answers in most cases. To gain better insight in the role of the family in bilingual education we conducted in-depth interviews with three Latino families in the area. These three particular families were contacted after reviewing the information that they had provided in the survey. They were chosen because they seemed the most willing to participate and were likely to provide the most interesting case studies. Their original surveys contained very honest replies that consisted of more than just yes and no replies. The children in these families varied in their participation in the bilingual program from those that had never participated in the program to some that were still attending classes in the bilingual program. We also conducted in-depth interviews with teachers from the bilingual program that we had contacted through Latino community leaders. Despite our efforts to gain more insight of the affects of the bilingual program on self esteem, we often gained barely enough information to simply report upon the peopleís perception of the bilingual program. Our lack of expertise in the area of measuring self esteem and definitive responses from the interviewees only allowed for simple perception data of the bilingual program.
In order to circumvent the problem of conflicting definitions that we faced once reviewed the literature that would help us to analyze our survey and interview results, we had to clearly define bilingual education. The literature available on bilingual education offered conflicting meanings that were often filled with the authorís biases. The first definition listed was taken from a state organization and the second from an educational magazine, both of which were on the world wide web.
Bilingual education is a means to make it possible for linguistically diverse children to achieve the same challenging academic standards required of all children enrolled in America schools (Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Languages Affairs, Web. State Organization)
and
Bilingual education. An education program for children whose native language is not English. Children are taught for some portion of the day in their native language, with the goal of moving them into mainstream English classes as quickly as possibleóusually within two or three years. Ideally, such programs allow students to keep up academically because the can learn subject matter in their native language while they learn English (edweek, web).
We defined bilingual education as curriculum that functions to teach non-native English speakers the language. We used the following definition for self-esteem:
...a psychological construct which refers to how the self (body
and mind) is viewed and valued. It includes how a person feels
about himself; how he judges himself as measuring up in terms
of skills, talents, abilities, and attributes; and how much
he values and respects himself (Friedman).
The names of our research participants will remain anonymous
and throughout this paper and we have utilized pseudonyms to protect
their identity. We will mainly focus on, how Latino children
in the bilingual program compare to those Latinos in the mainstream
elementary programs? Also we will examine what is the general
perception that people have of the program from all levels, participants
to the administrators? In order to answer the questions that
we have proposed for our project, we plan to utilize a number
of sociological methods which mainly consist of in depth interviews
of the subjects.
The Bilingual Education Act became Title VII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act Amendments in 1967. Its purpose was to conserve the language resources and to advance the learning of those children who were not native speakers. It sought to make learning the objective of the classroom, using other laniguages in addition to English to accomplish this goal. Bilingual educaation was said to open the door to paricipation of these three million American shcool children from non- English speaking homes (Andersson, v). The Act passed on January 2, 1968 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the Bilingual Education Act. The President defined the importance of the new law in the following words:
This bill authorizes a new effort to prevent dropouts; new programs for handicapped children; new planning help for rural schools. It also contains a special provision establishing bilingual education programs for children whose first language is not English. Thousands of children of Latin descent, young Indians, and others will get a better startóa better chance-- in school.....
What this law means, is that we are now giving every child in
America a better chance to touch his outermost limitsóto
reach the farthest edge of his talents and his dreams. We
have begun a campaign to unlock the full potential of every
boy and girlóregardless of his race or his region or his
fatherís income.
Senator Wayne Morse of Oregon, Chairman of the Education Subcommittee, said that the legislation was only an initial step and could only become reality if the teachers, school administrators, and parents worked together to make these programs come to life in the classroom. He added that the programs should be fully funded to achieve their capabilities. ìThey willî, he said, ì.....if teacher, administrator, and parent ask that they be, and can show that our children are benefited by the uses to which the funds are put.î (Andersson, 1). Such was the purpose of the bilingual education programming set in many schools. Whether it has lived up to these ideals is questionable and variable throughout schools. Senator Wayne Morse said it best in that it is only though major funding and the efforts of the teachers, administrators, and parents that that this idealized legislation could become a reality.
Arguments for the Support/ Opposition of the Bilingual Education In the United States
Conflicts over the continuation of federal support for programs such as the bilingual program, which originated to aid immigrant students with limited English-proficiency, have been ongoing since its introduction in 1965. The arguments for and against the use of bilingual instruction in public schools have become more evident in recent years because of the ever increasing presence of the Latino population in the United States. In America today there are over 27 million native-born and immigrant Latinos: 64% are of Mexican descent, 11% are of Puerto Rican descent, 5% are of Cuban descent, 14% are of Central/ South American descent, and 7% are from other Latin countries (Centeno 2/12/97). The numbers of Latinos in this country has been estimated to increase by about one million each year and by the year 2030, Latinos will make up 20% of the American population (Centeno 2/12/97). In addition, today, nearly one out of every five students entering the American education system knows a language other than English and nearly half of these students are limited in English language proficiency (Policy and Practice in Bilingual Education 9). With a large number of the population knowing little English, the threat of the loss for support of the bilingual program is of important consideration.
In the following pages the arguments commonly used in defense or in opposition of the bilingual program will be presented, along with recent research evidence on the effectiveness of the program.
There are four general arguments frequently used by supporters of bilingual education:
Common arguments against bilingual education include:
Supporters and critics of the bilingual program both propose evidence for the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of the bilingual education system, respectively. A major problem with any data provided on bilingual education is the discrepancies between the various programs that term themselves bilingual education. Because their is no definitive curriculum provided by the government for all bilingual programs, the term tends to be used by any program directed at foreign language speaking students. The amount of instruction in the native language and English can greatly contrast in these various programs. Thus careful attention is required to discriminate among various research studies; program content, program structure and student population most be considered in the analysis.
Recent research indicating favorable evidence for the utilization of the bilingual program, and bilingualism in general, includes a study conducted by Willig in 1985. He reported that after controlling for common methodological errors, such as ìdifferences in environmental language exposure, inappropriate comparisons with ëgraduatesí of bilingual programs, differences due to exiting of successful students and newcomers, and so onî, that participation in bilingual programs produced small to moderate differences favoring the program (Policy and Practice in Bilingual Education 19). In addition research published in 1980 by Paulston demonstrated that the high school drop out rates in 1976 were much lower for Native Americans in the bilingual-bicultural program at Little Horn School in Chicago (11%) than for Native Americans in Chicago public schools (95%).
There is also a lot of research published against the use of the bilingual education program in the American school systems. However a large amount of these studies concentrate on the belief by many critics that the objective of bilingual education is to mainstream students as soon as possible. For example in 1992 and 1994, the state of California released state reports that stated that its bilingual programs were unsuccessfully helping students enter regular classrooms and students were kept in these programs for too long and were not learning English.
Educators and parents alike are trying to build the positive perception that children have of themselves to insure these childrenís happiness. ìChildren with a healthy sense of self-esteem feel that the important adults in their lives accept them, care about them, and would go out of their way to ensure that they are safe and wellî (Katz, 1). These important adults include most everyone that a child comes into contact with on a regular basis, especially parents/guardians, relatives and teachers. During the early years of a childís life, the perceptions of him/her self is influenced by the way that the child senses that these ìadultsî perceive them (Katz, 2). Children are also influenced by the acceptance that they feel from their peers in school and outside of school. ì..as a result of discontinuities between home and school, many culturally diverse children encounter aversive experiences at schoolî (Henderson, 38). Children in the bilingual program are like all other children in that they are prone to loss of self esteem when they are criticized for being different by others. ìTo the extent that the child feels that his/her language and culture are unacceptable in school, which is a reflection of society at large, the child will suffer a loss of self esteemî(Milne, 7). It would follow that if a child receives assurance that his/her culture are accepted in the school that the child would feel better about him/herself. ìBilingual and multicultural programs that enable children to experience cultural and linguistic pride certainly have an important role to play in meeting the social and emotional needs of children from diverse backgrounds but they cannot fully accomplish their purposes unless children are helped to experience genuine feelings of personal and social competence within the total school settingî(Henderson, 48). There exists a number schools in which a child is in mainstream classroom for most of the day and is pulled out of these for instruction in the bilingual program for part of the day or ìpull outî programs. The Princeton and West Windsor district operate under this sort of program. It is important that with this curriculum the children feel both accepted culturally and linguistically in and out of the program. ìEnvironments may have itís own specific demand characteristics for functional adaptation, and for a child to succeed in two different environments may depend on the degree of overlap in the demand characteristics of the environmentsî(Henderson, 39). Environments that are congruent or at least in accepting of the culture of Latino children would serve to alleviate some of the feelings of being different that a bilingual child is likely to feel. ìMaintaining the minority mother tongue is said by many to develop a desirable form of cultural diversity in societies, to promote ethnic identity, to lead to social adaptability, to add to the psychological security of the child, and to develop linguistic awarenessî(Garcia, 75).
Parents are vital in promoting the welfare of their children in bilingual program. The Education for all Handicapped children Act of 1975 guarantees parents that they have a co-equal partnership in the education of their children in school. The parentís importance in a childís success in school is undeniable.
ìResearchers report that parental involvement had a pronounced effect on the studentís success in school. Children who read to their parents made significantly greater progress in reading than those who did not engage in this type of literacy sharing. Small-group instruction in reading, given by a highly competent specialist, did not produce improvements comparable those obtained from the collaboration with parents.î(Garcia, 77)
Achievements that ìsuccessfulî children experience builds self esteem. ìChildren who experience repeated failure at the tasks assigned to them at school are likely to come to perceive themselves as incapable of accomplishing other tasks of the same kindî (Henderson, 44). According to a leading expert on Latino studies, its is important that Latino parents are examined under the framework of Latino parents and taking into account beliefs that differ from those of ìmainstream parentsî[middle-class white] (Torres-Guzman, 259). ì..many recently arrived Mexican families see the school as the sole authority on what needs to be learned and how it should be doneî (Faltis, 245). This faith in the school is just an acceptance that school officials know what is best for the education of their children. This trust in the administrators can be perceived as uncaring because immigrants parents do not join the school boards that are often the vehicles of change for the school system. ìAt home, parents [Mexican immigrant] constantly teach their children to be respectful to elders, to care for family members, and to be accountable for their own actions, but they rarely work with their children on school-related activitiesî(Faltis, 246). Parents are willing to work to push their children to respect their elders which include their teachers. This teaching of respect leads to good behavior in the classroom that directly helps the to conduct classroom activities. Parents of Latinos demonstrate they care about the educational process by talking with their children about schooling (Torres-Guzman, 266). These talks include simply asking the child what happened in school to helping the student with their homework and teaching the importance of schooling.
In this paper, we learn in a more direct and personal manner how two Latino families with children presently enrolled or previously enrolled in the bilingual program feel about the bilingual program. They shared their views on the program and how they felt the bilingual education program in Princeton has helped or hindered their social, economic and political standing in this community. At this time we would like to also consider the views of one of the two bilingual teachers teaching in the town of Princeton. This teacher provides personal testimony as to her own feelings on the value of her bilingualism, her professional training and her role in making children with limited English skills and their parents feel comfortable within the school and the community. She also comments on the growing need for the bilingual program in this town and the opposition towards a full-time program in Princeton. To insure the anonymity of this teacher the name of the particular school this instructor teaches at will not be mentioned.
The bilingual teacher interviewed for this project has been an instructor of the bilingual education since 1976 (except for four years she had taken off from the profession to give birth to her children). This teacher does not actually live in the Princeton, she lives in a neighboring borough with her Hispanic husband and children. The fact that she was married to a Latin man raised some interesting issues, but due to the personal nature of this subject this topic unfortunately could not be pursued any further. Six of the 17 years she has been involved in bilingual instruction have been spent in the Princeton school district. When asked why she became a bilingual teacher, this teacher remarked that:
In the 70ís there were a lot of teachers on the market and not very many jobs. And I decided that I needed to do something to make myself more marketable. One of the things that I decided to do was to speak Spanish, which paid off... I took it in college as a sophmore. In college I decided that that was something I needed to do.
This teacher felt that her bilingualism was a valuable asset, an additional skill that made her more competitive in her profession. Additionally she felt that her ability to communicate in Spanish is a priceless commodity for voices that are rarely heard in this community, a growing community that is often diverted away from becoming part of mainstream society and marginalized. This teacher felt that this was reflected in Princeton school policies that create a major impediment to developing an environment in which the parents of the bilingual child feel comfortable. These policies often do not take into consideration the fact that there is no one in the main school office who is capable of addressing the needs of a non-English speaking parent.
There is a system where visitors are supposed to sign in the office and get a badge and then come down. Most of my parents come to my room without their badges and I would never send them back. I just wouldnít. Because theyíre there, they got themselves there.
She feels that creating an environment in which bilingual childrenís parents feel at ease is of extreme importance, since the parentís feedback is a substantive element for the child to feel that their bilingualism is accepted in school. In addition, the parent will perceive the school and the teacher as approachable and will be more likely to take an active role in the education of the child. Our interviewee provided a good example of how a direct phone line for bilingual parents has helped tremendously in encouraging parents inclusion in their childrenís academic lives.
In our classroom we have a telephone line that accesses into the classroom directly and the parents know, theyíve been given information in the beginning of the year and continually throughout the year, that that phone is only answered by somebody who speaks Spanish. So it will ring in the classroom, we have an answering machine there. Parents who work odd hours can call late at night and know that Iíll get the message the next day. So that has helped a lot. Parents call in a lot now when they have a question about something that comes home. When their children are absent they donít have to be afraid that they are going to have to go through the office and someone who does not speak Spanish. They are not going to get any help being understood or understand the person thatís talking.
The teacher being interviewed wished to regard her role as a bilingual teacher as a means of combating stereotypes and, more importantly, racism in a predominantly white school and community. She felt that racism was one of the major factors which caused the bilingual education program at Princeton to be divided into two part-time programs at two different schools.
She mentioned how New Jersey State Law says that when a certain number of students in the district are non-English speaking, the district must provide a full-time program of bilingual instruction. It must provide this bilingual instruction in every subject area. However if districts can show hardship, that it would not be possible to have a single bilingual kindergarten class and so on, they are allowed to provide only a part-time program. A part-time program is what the Princeton school district has instituted. In a part-time program the bilingual teacher is the primary teacher for teaching language arts, reading, writing and mathematics to bilingual students. The rest of the school subjects are taught by mainstream teachers.
The bilingual program at Princeton was initially provided at only one school, Little Brook Elementary School. At the Little Brook School, there were two teachers teaching kindergarten through fourth grades. However when the Princeton schools were re-districted because of the addition of a fourth elementary school (Johnson Park Elementary School), this arrangement was changed. With the re-districting of the schools the bilingual students were divided in two groups, with one group going to the Johnson Park School and the other going to the Community Park School. There is now only one teacher at each school teaching kindergarten to fourth grades, and also fifth grade. This, says the teacher, made teaching much more difficult. For example for this academic year, she has six kindergartners, seven first graders, two third graders, two fourth graders and one fifth grader. (Total: 18 students) Fortunately, this year a third bilingual teacher was hired to share some of the student load. She teaches the second graders on a part-time basis at the Community Park School and the Johnson Park School.
Our interviewee felt that Princeton has enough bilingual students enrolled at both schools, and definitely enough money, to provide a full-time program for bilingual instruction in one school. However because of the opposition to the presence of such a program in the Princeton school district, the school administrators have opted for a program that will mainstream bilingual students as soon they enter the classroom.
She then added that she has made a conscious decision to use the childís native language as a means of developing both languages, Spanish and English, simultaneously:
I use both languages... the amount of English I use depends on the proficiency level of the child. What I am teaching for is understanding, I want to make sure that these kids understand concepts, that first graders understand first grade math concepts. If they canít understand it in English, then I am not going to use English. Iíll teach English at the same time and teach them some vocabulary. But I want to make sure that they understand concepts, cause once you understand the concept of more than or less than, once you know how to use a number grid to add by tens... once you understand those fundamental concepts, it doesnít matter what language you understand them in. The same with the process of reading. And then the English language, the vocabulary, is easier to teach. It is real hard to teach vocabulary when kids donít understand the concepts. People donít understand that successful reading in the native language will predict successful reading in the second language. I use the first language as a vehicle to teach the process of reading. As they acquire more vocabulary, they transfer it very, very quickly.
This teacher is aware of differential development in her children and is confident that with time each student will be proficient in the use of both the English and Spanish languages. She considers language development a two-way process, each language benefits the evolvement of the other.
The views expressed on bilingual education in this interview may not necessarily be representative of the general outlook held by other members of the school and community, but neither are they irrelevant. They provide an opportunity for an in depth look at some of the sensitive issues concerning the perceived value of bilingual education in Princeton. There are indications of much opposition to the presence of such a program in the Princeton school district and this is seen most strongly in comments made about the type of bilingual education curriculum and program instituted in Princeton.
Princeton Bilingual Program
The bilingual elementary program of Princeton is what experts refer to as an immersion pull out program. Students in the program are scheduled into a ìregularî classroom where the lessons are conducted in English. For one hour and forty-five minutes each day, the students are pulled from these ìregular classesî and placed in the bilingual classroom (teacher 1). In the bilingual classroom, the teacher will conduct class in Spanish and the students also are allowed to ask their questions in Spanish. New material is not presented in the bilingual classroom instead the teacher mainly serves to clarify the material the child has learned in their regular classroom (student A). These bilingual teachers cover the normal courses that the childís teacher does ranging from Mathematics to Reading and English grammmar. Community Park elementary school has one full time bilingual teacher that serves to teach students from grades K-5. There is also a part-time bilingual teacher that works at both Community Park and Johnston Park elementary that comes in to alleviate the workload of Community Park by teaching some of the second and third graders (teacher 1). The number of children enrolled in the bilingual program changes each year due to the needs of the chidren for the bilingual program. This year there are over 15 students total enrolled in the bilingual program at Community Park elementary (teacher 1). There is a much smaller number of students in the bilingual program at Johnston Park elementary. We were unable to obtain exact figures for the other elementary schools. All the schools do operate with the pull out immersion bilingual program.
Family Case Study #1
Preface:
The story I am about to tell is of an illegal immigrant family of six from Guadalajara, Mexico living in Princeton. There are four children, one boy and three girls ranging from the ages 8-14 attending the elementary and middle schools in West Windsor. The two oldest children are currently in the bilingual program while the two youngest are no longer in the program. The two oldest ones also participate in the ESL program.
Prior to meeting this family I had many misconceptions of how the interview would proceed. I expected to simply ask questions to the parents and children and then later assess the factors influencing these childrenís self-esteem within the bilingual program. What I had not expected was the willingness of the family to answer these questions with their story; their story of struggles, fears, helplessness, hopes, and dreams that many immigrant families share. It is through the experiences that the family has shared with me that I have been able to understand what it is like to be a parent coming to the US with little money and little knowledge of the English language and what it is like to be a foreign-born child learning English in the bilingual program in Princeton. Though my groupís paper deals specifically with the self-esteem of students within the bilingual program, I am compelled to share their story because it will only enhance your understanding, as it did mine, of the importance of the Latino family in the education of the children, specifically their bilingual education.
Meet Porfirio--14, Janet--13, Luna Bella--10, and Cindy--8. The names given to them by the coyotes, contacts on the borders who are given large sums of money to insure immigrants passage to the United States. They have not been in the United States longóonly about three years. They arrived in this country with their mother age 33 who sold everything she had to pay for her and her childrenís passage. The mother recalls her fear that Cindy, her daughter, would be left behind because she was shy and would not say her new name to the border officials. ìLos coyotes me dijieron que se iba quedar si no decia su nombre. Y yo me quede tan precupada que a lo mejor nosotros pasamos y ella no. ëDit el nombre que te dieron,í yo le dije. ëPor favor, nina, has me ese favor.î ìThe coyotes told me that she would end up staying if she didnít say her name. And I became very worried that all of us would pass and she wouldnít. ëTell them the name they gave you,í I told her. Please, little girl, do me that favor.î Safely across, the family spent one month in California with some of their relatives because their father age 35 who had arrived in the US a year earlier in the trunk of a car did not have enough money to fly them east. Therefore they ended up riding in a trailer for four days straight to be reunited with their father in New Jersey.
In New Jersey they first lived in Bridgetown but this city did not offer them what they were looking for. It had no jobs and according to the parents the education system was bad. The mother commented on how her children were in the bilingual program and they were not learning English. The city, she told me, was comprised of mostly Latinos and English was practically unnecessary to learn. Thus, her husband and she decided to move to Princeton. In Princeton she had a lot of family which advised her about the excellent schooling and many opportunities the city offered. It is in this city that she and her husbandís dreams of America were met. She works as a baby-sitter and her husband oversees a ranch. They found Princeton to be a very attractive community with a lot of Latinos willing to help each other. In fact, Latinos comprise the entire neighborhood they live in. All of their friends are Latinos that they have met in the neighborhood through their childrenís friends, through Spanish mass, and other functions within the Latino community. This familiarity with other Latinos in the area has served as a network in which this family has used to get their children into the educational system.
Why did this family go through such extremes to come to the United States? ìPara buscar un futuro mejor para sus hijos,î said the mother. ìTo find a better future for their children,î their mother told me. America was the land of opportunity for this family, the place where one could easily get a good-paying job, own a home, and give oneís children a good education for free. Mexico she told me had too many crisis. Jobs were scarce and only the highly educated could get a well-paying job. Unfortunately, though, getting an education in Mexico was very costly, and students usually only finished up to sixth grade. She herself only finished sixth grade while her husband finished eighth. If given the opportunity here to continue their education, both she and her husband said they would. They also made many inquiries as to where they could learn English. This high value of education is quite evident within the family structure. The father told me, ìSi nos echaron para Mexico ya supieren ingles y allé pueden estudiar.î ìIf they threw us back to Mexico my kids would already know English and they could study there. The pervading fear of being deported surfaced in many of the fatherís comments throughout the interview. The parents who do not speak or read English ask to see their childrenís homework and are very willing to help in any way possible. Their lack of English does prove a hindrance when it comes to helping their children with homework in English but they do believe that showing an interest in what their children are learning will instill the educational value in them. They also meet with their childrenís teachers regularly. The mother is fortunate, she says, because all her children have a teacher that serves as an interpreter for her at many school functions. On advise of the teacher she even went with her husband to a series of talks given at her younger daughterís school on how to treat oneís children better. The parents are satisfied with the education the children are receiving, particularly the bilingual programming in West Windsor. Their children all speak English. The youngest ones speak it fluently and have therefore recently been taken out of the bilingual program. The two older children are currently in the bilingual program but will be ready to move on next year. The two oldest are also still part of the ESL program. The two oldest are having greater difficulty acquiring the English language than the younger children are. This may be due to many factors like the age at which they came or the desire of the children to learn. The father informs me that the teachers have been very helpful and patient with them.
Though both parents are content with the education their children are receiving, they do feel there are weaknesses in having their children in the bilingual program. The major one is the discrimination the children have faced in the schools. ìPrinceton,î she said, ìis a very racist community where immigrants are not welcome. My children had to go through many difficulties because they could not speak English. Iím glad they have finally picked it up and no longer have to be in the bilingual program where everyone knows youíre an immigrant and donít speak English.î She also believes that ESL is better than bilingual education because bilingual education can be a hindrance in learning English. ESL on the other hand, she says, forces one to learn English. She feels her children have progressed well in school and it is because of the ESL programming. What about the Spanish language, I asked. ìThey learn that at home. Thatís our job. Once they come home from school they are required to only speak Spanish. I tell them, speak English at school but Spanish in the home,î said the mother. Both parents continue to instill Mexican culture and its values in the home. They admit its difficult at times because they already have two adolescent children that are entering their rebellious years and are picking up American customs. The parents believe that American parents are too liberal and do not have a strong sense of family. Although, they do perceive American children to be highly educated and that is the one value that she wishes to incorporate in her home.
Before ending my interview with the parents and beginning it with the children I asked the parents what were their hopes for there children.
Parents: Que estudian. ìto study.î
Mother: Iíd like them to finish up to at least high school in the US but I donít think they will because of the way the situation is now I donít think Iíll be able to see this dream realized.
Mother: Because only those that have their papers can stay. We donít. Father: Itís those problems with immigration, we donít know if theyíll find us.
Mother: We have to expect deportation. We tell our children not to get too comfortable and be ready to go back. We have to. We have some land in Mexico that weíd like to build a house on but we still donít have enough money.
Father: If only I could ask the government to let us stay
a couple more years, just until we make enough
money here to take back with us and have
a better life. If they let me do that, Iíll leave very
content.
With those comments I began my interview with Porfirio--14, Janet--13, Luna Bella--10, and Cindy--8 intrigued as to how they have dealt with the transition from Mexico to Princeton. All of them described their transition as being difficult because they did not know any English. Porfirio recounts how when they entered school the first day everyone laughed at them. ìPeople laugh at those students that donít know English. They laughed at me.î Janet says, ìWhen they saw us they all started speaking English. I wouldnít do that if I was in Mexico and they didnít know Spanish. I knew they were talking bad about us.î Being ostracized the first days of school has made them all want to help those students who come here from another country. Janet and Porfirio told me how whenever a new student comes the teacher asks them to help them for the day and they graciously accept because they remember the way they felt when they first entered school
Concerning the bilingual program they have positive comments towards it. Janet explains how ìit gives you a lot of help in learning the language. If you do know what something is you can ask the teacher in Spanish and sheíll tell you the word in English.î All of them liked both their bilingual and ESL classes. They say they have learned a lot and it has given them confidence in speaking the English language in their non-bilingual classes. Luna Bella who has left the bilingual and ESL program is a very good student. She receives many certificates and awards for her academic performance. She attributes her success to the fact that she used to read a lot in Spanish in Mexico, so when she came here learning to read English was easy. She also says she does her homework. Cindy does not fall far behind. She, too, is doing academically well in school. It is also the two youngest that are forgetting their Spanish quickly. This seems to be a trend in many of the immigrant families we have studied. It always seems that the older the children immigrate, the harder it is for them to learn English and the worse they do in school. In contrast the younger the children that come to the US the easiest it is for them to aquire the English language but also lose their Spanish language. In my case study I attribute this correlation to the older children having a greater understanding of the Spanish language and a stronger desire to return to Mexico and not lose their primary language. Having gone through more schooling than the younger children the Spanish language is more ingrained and the transition to English grammatical rules is more difficult. The younger children can easily pick up English because they did not have as much schooling in the Spanish language and they do not have to convert the Spanish rules to English ones. They only have to learn English rules. The loss of Spanish is due to them not speaking it as often. Even though they are required to speak it at home, they speak English to each other making Spanish the less dominant language.
When asked about how they perceive their parentsí role in their education Janet commented on how they help the two youngest ones with their homework but that they could no longer help them because their material is harder. They sometimes wish their parents could speak English because that way they could speak both languages with them. It sometimes bothers them that they always have to translate for their parents but they do understand. They personally have no preference for either language. Porfirio told me how he cannot and will not forget his Spanish.
The children do comment, though, on how they do not learn about their culture in school. Janet and Porfirio remember a lot about Mexico but the two younger ones do not. Janet explains that they only learn about the African American culture and the Anglo culture. She does attempt to teach her friends about Mexico but its hard because they do not understand. For example Porfirio remembers the reaction he received when he told his friend how in Mexico if you did not do your homework the teacher would spank you.
Socially Janet, Luna, and Cindy do not participate in extraócurricular activities because one has to pay for many of them in the elementary school. Porfirio plays soccer in the middle school and Janet hopes to be a cheerleader when she gets to middle school. Like their parents a lot of their friends are Latinos. This may be because the Spanish language unifies the Latinos in the area or because they have made these friends while in the bilingual program. They do not have many Mexican friends and Janet wishes she had. The rest of their friends are black. All of their friends are minorities, they told me, because the ìwhite people no se juntan con nosotros.î ìThe white people do not hang out with us.î Porfirio tells me, Janet ì...almost got into a fight the other day because a girl told her she buys her clothes at the cheap store.î Such discrimination can hurt these childrenís self-esteem but it does not because the unity and values of the family is so powerful that they learn that it is love that is needed not money. Janet said, ìI do not want to be rich. If I am Iíd give it to the poor people.î It is important to see how these children have been discriminated against not only because they are immigrants but also because they are poor. Albeit not in my case, such discrimination against the poor can be another factor in the low self-esteem found in immigrant poor children within the bilingual education.
Impressed with this comment I asked my final question what and where do you want to be when you grow up.
Janet: I want to be Selena. I want to be a pediatrician. I want to be married and live in Mexico. I like Mexico better. I miss my family and friends.
Porfirio: I want to be like the soccer player Jorge Campos. I want to finish high school and then go back and play professionally in Mexico.
Luna Bella: My mom wants me to be a teacher. I want to go back to Mexico, too. I have more friends there.
Cindy: A teacher. I like it here because my fatherís
here. Iíll go where he goes.
In conclusion it is evident that the children have strong pride in their Mexican heritage and in who they are. Like all children they have dreams and goals for the future and a strong sense of how to achieve them. The love and the unity of the family seems to be the greatest factor in giving them that self-esteem that would be easily lost through the discrimination in the schools.
In this case study the bilingual program has both benefited and disadvantaged these children. It has benefited them in that it eased their transition to the English classroom. When they entered the English classroom they had enough self-esteem to speak English with their peers. Janet did tell me that those students who where immediately placed in the English classroom and knew very little English were laughed at when they spoke and rarely spoke. She, on the other hand, feels ready to enter the English classroom and her younger sisters felt no discomfort with their English when they left the bilingual program. The disadvantages with the program are many but do not outweigh the greatest advantage of greater self-esteem. The greatest disadvantage is the discrimination bilingual students receive. This is the only factor that may hurt the childís self esteem but if given in the home like in the previous case study or if given as part of the curriculum in the bilingual program, there will be no loss of it. Other disadvantageous are the way the program is run, the fact that they are segregated from other students, and it reinforces differences with other students. The manner in which the program is run can be very disadvantageous because as previously mentioned in the case study the children were not learning any English in the town of Bridgetown. Everyone spoke Spanish and English was unnecessary to learn. The bilingual curriculum in that town did not enforce the use of the English language. The segregation factor can also be disadvantageous because the children become comfortable within their own bilingual students community. They do not, until they leave the bilingual program, have to integrate with students whose first language is English. This may be one of the reasons why many students in the bilingual program solely have Latino friends who speak both languages. A final factor that can be either disadvantageous or advantageous is that it reinforces their differences. This can be seen as a problem because these students may feel that they have nothing in common with their ìAmericanî peers thereby reinforcing stereotypes or discrimination between the two groups. It can be advantageous if the differences were implemented correctly. For example if they were taught that such differences were what makes everyone in this world unique and it is that uniqueness that they could share with others. As in the case with Janet and Porfirio they do try to teach their culture with their friends. This may be a way of combating the racism that is built between the bilingual students and the other peers. Some form of understanding and appreciation of each others uniqueness and culture is necessary to create a more integrated community of students.
Sitting there listening to this family kept me in awe because they had so many experiences to share with me and all I had to do was ask. I thank this family very much for sharing with me the experiences of an illegal family in the US struggling for a better life.
The Sanchez family consists of a father Jose, mother Maria, son Benito (14), daughter Louisa (11), and the youngest daughter Cassandra (8). Jose and Maria immigrated from Mexico over fifteen years ago. The Sanchez family is a working class family with both parents being members of the employment world. All of the Sanchez children were born in Princeton, New Jersey. Despite their many years in the United States, the Sanchez parents are unable to speak English. They are able to understand a limited amount of English but Spanish remains the primary language in their home. All of the children are fluent in English and Spanish. The youngest Cassandra is unable to write in Spanish and both Louisa and Benito are proficient in Spanish but do admit to having difficulties with the grammar. Jose was only able to talk for a few minutes and so I gathered very little from our brief interview. Maria was in the middle of cooking dinner when I was conducting my studies and so I concentrated most of inquiries on the Sanchez children. I began my research talking to Benito the eldest child at thirteen.
The interview with Benito was very short and he seemed anxious to get the questions answered so that he could go back to watching television. His responses to the inquiries were mostly one word but there were intermittent two or three sentence answers. Benito is in the seventh grade. He began his education in the bilingual program, graduating to the ìregularî program in the second grade. When asked about his experiences in the bilingual program, Benito was very reluctant to speak to me. His only comment was that it was ìokayî. It was not apparent if the reluctance was based on Benitoís experience with the bilingual program or if maybe just the awkward adolescent stage was the culprit. Even the many years out of the bilingual program could have just resulted in a forgetfulness that I may have misinterpreted as reluctance. I was hesitant to push the subject further and run the risk of making Benito feel completely uncomfortable. Benito was very enthusiastic about discussing basketball and music videos but the other things we discussed just did seem to excite him as much. Benito did say that he is no longer friends with the students that he met in the bilingual program. It is difficult to say if this is due to a moving away from his culture or just simply part of the experience of growing up and making new friends. Most his friends now are African American and he stated that ìI feel little connection with newly arrived immigrants my schoolî (case study #2). Outside of the home, he admits to rarely speaking Spanish.
ìThere is not a need for me to speak Spanish anywhere but here[in the home]. I mean most of my friends speak only English and even those friends I have that know Spanish, also speak English. I do have to sometimes translate for my parents but that does not happen oftenî (case study #2).
There was not a lot of conclusions that I could draw from my conversation with Benito about the bilingual program.
I next interviewed Louisa that unlike Benito was willing to talk in depth about her experience in the bilingual program. She seemed totally at ease with the conversation and this probably contributed to her talkative nature in the interview. Louisa is eleven years old and currently in the fifth grade at the local elementary school. Like Benito the first two years of her education, she was a student in the bilingual program. The following is part of the conversation that I had with Louisa:
Louisa: I liked that I was able to learn about my culture with the stories that the teacher would read to us. I never learn about my culture now.
Louisa: The thing I like least was the teasing that kids not in the program would do to us in the program. I felt like they thought that I was stupid because I didnít know English. I remember that sometimes I would come home and cry because some kid at school had made fun of me. But I would never cry at school because I knew that they would just make more fun of me if I did that.
Louisa: Well now I know English and the kids do not make fun of me anymore. I do miss learning about Mexican culture. I miss the stories about Mexico. But it is easier now that I am not in the bilingual program because I donít feel different like I used to.
Throughout the interview I kept being reminded of the research by Henderson that stated ì..as a result of discontinuities between home and school, many culturally diverse children encounter aversive experiences at schoolî (Henderson, 38). Louisa told me the story of how one little girl said that she had showered in ìthe stupid Mexican water,î the insult seemed so childish but yet hurt Louisa a lot (case study #2). ìTo the extent that the child feels that his/her language and culture are unacceptable in school, which is a reflection of society at large, the child will suffer a loss of self esteemî(Milne, 7). The work of Milne also seemed to ring true as I was interviewing Louisa but of course I did not have the expertise to actually measure the amount of damage to her self esteem she had suffered. I could only conclude that this had occurred from her comments of when referred to herself as being stupid and dumb. It was difficult to determine if the bilingual program enrollment in this case was more of a hindrance or if in fact it was helpful. There definitely existed in her positive experience from the program that let her with cultural pride and she was highly proficient in the Spanish language. Perhaps if the program also included some sort of education for children not in the bilingual program about what it means to be bilingual than Louisaís transition into the mainstream program would have been easier. This would have created more of the environment that Henderson spoke of in his research. ìBilingual and multicultural programs that enable children to experience cultural and linguistic pride certainly have an important role to play in meeting the social and emotional needs of children from diverse backgrounds but they cannot fully accomplish their purposes unless children are helped to experience genuine feelings of personal and social competence within the total school settingî(Henderson, 48).
My last full interview was with the youngest child Cassandra. Cassandra is a very shy eight year old in the second grade at the local elementary school. She was never part of the bilingual program at school. Mother Maria says that she decided to not place Cassandra in the bilingual program(case study #2). I was unable to ask if Mariaís decision to not place Cassandra in the bilingual program was the result of Louisaís negative experience with her membership in it. I did establish that Cassandra did understand English when she entered kindergarten because of the teachings of Louisa and Benito. Benito and Louisa, especially, would often read to Cassandra in English when they were younger. Again I could not conclude if the better position that Cassandra was in when she entered school or if the negative experiences of her other children in the bilingual program were the main motive for not placing Cassandra in the bilingual program at school. Her mother Maria says that the youngest often refuses to speak Spanish most of the time and when asked a question in Spanish she simply replies in English(case study #2). Maria says that Cassandra is the only child that often forgets what the Spanish word for things are and often just substitutes English words for Spanish ones when she does speak Spanish(case study #2). For most of our conversation, Cassandra was paying attention to the television screen behind my head. There was one point in conversation in which she commented that she wished that she had blond hair and blue eyes after seeing a commercial on television with a famous Caucasian model(case study #2). I asked Cassandra about why she wanted to have blond hair and blue eyes but she merely commented that she didnít know. It is difficult to say if perhaps the situation would have been different if Cassandra had been enrolled in the bilingual program. Despite the difficulties that Louisa felt while in the program, she definitely emerged with a sense of pride in both her language and culture(case study #2). At the very least, Cassandra would have been exposed to literature about Mexican culture in the bilingual program. Of course, I am not implying that this would have made her proud of her dark eyes and hair but it may have let her know that others are considered beautiful with dark hair and eyes.
It is difficult to say after reviewing the interview of the Sanchez family whether the bilingual program of Princeton is affective. The children did indeed learn Spanish and English as a result of the program but it is difficult to say if the positives of the situation outweighed the negative experiences that one of the children experienced. The only thing that I can definitely say needs to occur is more education of children not in the bilingual program about the cultures of those in the program and the meaning of the program.
A minority student who is confident of and recognized in his more intimate primary-group membership relates more positively both to school and to society (both of which are majority-dominated) and, as a result, profits more from schooling.
Joshua A. Fishman, 1976a: 30