N.Y.C.'s Bilingual Education: Still Crazy After All These Years Says U.S. English
Wed Jul 14, 2:52 PM ET
Contact: Rob Toonkel of U.S. English, 202-833-0100 or rtoonkel@us-english.org

WASHINGTON, July 14 /U.S. Newswire/ -- A report in Wednesday's New York Times revealed that Latino parents in Brooklyn have joined together to protest their children's perpetual assignment to programs that fail to teach them English. The report is of a kind with previous Times revelations about failures in the nation's bilingual programs since the mid-1960s.

"What is happening in New York City is unacceptable," explained Mauro E. Mujica, chairman/CEO of U.S. English. "So-called 'bilingual education' has come to mean that children learn very little English in the course of a school day. Hispanic parents are like everyone else -- they want their children to learn the language of opportunity in this country. It is a shame that educational bureaucrats are failing to respond to the needs of the people they are supposed to serve."

In the report, Times education columnist Samuel G. Freedman chronicles a series of program breakdowns: children making progress in English classes being abruptly transferred to "bilingual" classes; multiple English proficient students being stuck in bilingual programs, including one English proficient sixth-grader who must resort to learning English by watching the Cartoon Network. Parent Benerita Salsedo adds, "I'm very angry. The school is supposed to do what's best for the kids. The school puts my kids' education in danger, because everything is in English here."

"As the Times aptly puts it, 'It's deja vu all over again,'" Mujica added. "Poor immigrant workers who struggle to make a better life for their children are essentially ignored by the 'we- know-better' educational establishment. In 1967, the New York Times reported that Puerto Rican parents were picketing the Chairman of the Board of Education, demanding that their children learn more English. The city has failed a generation of immigrant schoolchildren. It can ill afford to fail the next."


U.S. English, Inc. is the nation's oldest and largest non- partisan citizens' action group dedicated to preserving the unifying role of the English language in the United States. Founded in 1983 by the late Sen. S.I. Hayakawa of California, U.S. English, Inc. now has more than 1.8 million members.

Making English the official language
U.S.ENGLISH, Inc. is the nation's oldest, largest citizens' action group dedicated to preserving the unifying role of the English language in the United States. Founded in 1983 by the late Senator S.I. Hayakawa, an immigrant himself, U.S. English now has 1.8 million members nationwide.

Mauro E. Mujica, an architect and international businessman as well as an immigrant from Chile, has been the Chairman/CEO of U.S.ENGLISH Inc. since 1993 and prior to that, served on the Board of Directors beginning in 1992. Because of his commitment to keeping this nation unified through a common language and his own experience as an immigrant, Mr. Mujica has succeeded in making U.S.ENGLISH Inc. one of the fastest-growing interest groups in the country.

U.S.ENGLISH believes that the passage of English as the official language will help to expand opportunities for immigrants to learn and speak English, the single greatest empowering tool that immigrants must have to succeed.