Hot damn.
For one of my Ed Policy classes this semester (eps 460), for each policy we study in the class, a group is assigned to lead the class in a debate over the issue. We set it up like a mini congress and the 'working group' comes and presents both sides of the issue and then presents the policy compromise that we have decided on would work best. We then open the room up for debate over the policy, discussion, etc.
Well this is how its supposed to happen at least, the first on is on Thursday, when my group will do the topic of Bilingual education.
The Bill we are debating is 'Banning all bilingual education in Wisconsin, and using structured Enlish immersion programs for bilingual kids.'
Naturally when my group got together we discussed our personal views on the matter, and we all were against the bill- we all support bilingual education.
We needed to split the group in half and research both sides of the debate, and have half the group ready to defend the bill.
Why not me? So I go into the research part of it with the mind set of...In order to do my part of the assignment, I have to convince myself that Bilingual is a bad policy- only then will I be able to possibly convince other people in the room who had originally been for bilingual ed.
After four group meetings, guess who's not so convinced anymore!
Forcing myself to really look into the other side of the debate was probably the best thing I could have done.
I'm not going to say that I'm for Banning ALL bilingual ed- but I most definitely am for placing a higher bar on bilingual programs in terms of which schools are allowed to implement it or not.
More often than not, its an extremely idealistic policy that leaves kids behind, and without being dominant in Spanish OR English.
Can you imagine?
Well this is how its supposed to happen at least, the first on is on Thursday, when my group will do the topic of Bilingual education.
The Bill we are debating is 'Banning all bilingual education in Wisconsin, and using structured Enlish immersion programs for bilingual kids.'
Naturally when my group got together we discussed our personal views on the matter, and we all were against the bill- we all support bilingual education.
We needed to split the group in half and research both sides of the debate, and have half the group ready to defend the bill.
Why not me? So I go into the research part of it with the mind set of...In order to do my part of the assignment, I have to convince myself that Bilingual is a bad policy- only then will I be able to possibly convince other people in the room who had originally been for bilingual ed.
After four group meetings, guess who's not so convinced anymore!
Forcing myself to really look into the other side of the debate was probably the best thing I could have done.
I'm not going to say that I'm for Banning ALL bilingual ed- but I most definitely am for placing a higher bar on bilingual programs in terms of which schools are allowed to implement it or not.
More often than not, its an extremely idealistic policy that leaves kids behind, and without being dominant in Spanish OR English.
Can you imagine?
posted by Katy @ 9:13 PM
2 Comments:
At 10/1/08 2:35 PM ,
Teresa said...
My Latino History and Politics class has been having the same debate.
While bilingual education, in an ideal world, sounds like the best way to integrate non-native English speakers into the educational system, this is not always the case. Every program is not of the same quality and doesn't have the same trained faculty.
Some are great, but some are really awful and only leave kids behind.
At 10/2/08 12:57 PM ,
Katy said...
UPDATE:
So the debate was a success, and a lot of interesting points were brought up.
For instance, when members who voted for banning bilingual ed in california with Prop. 227 in 1998 were surveyed on what reasons they voted the way they did, only around 12% supported the ban on grounds that Bilingual Education doesn't work in practice.
Reasons where more on the basis of the fear of a different language becoming dominate in the US and/or funds being taken away from the common student to support bilingual programs.
Interesting!
Post a Comment
<< Home