Forked Tongue: The Politics of Bilingual Education

Today children who are not fluent in English—legal and illegal immigrants, refugees, and native born—are the fastest growing portion of our population, accounting for more than half the children in classrooms in many city schools. Bilingual education programs established by federal and state laws have required that such students be taught basic subjects in their native languages rather than in English. Judged by most applicable measures—such as achievement scores and dropout rates—these pro...