The New York Times
February 24, 2001, Saturday
For Parents, One Size Doesn't Fit All in Bilingual
Education
By MIREYA NAVARRO
Yuliya Kovardinskaya remembers being thrown into an 11th-grade classroom when she
arrived from Ukraine 10 years ago and not understanding much of what she was taught.
In this sink-or-swim environment, she swam. By 12th grade, she had moved from an
English as a second language program, or E.S.L., to a regular classroom.
So when she sent her 5-year-old son to school last September, she shunned a bilingual
program, in which instruction is initially given mostly in the native language, in favor of
E.S.L. classes, where teachers instruct immigrants in English. ''You have to be with the
people who speak English to speak the language,'' Ms. Kovardinskaya, 25, said.
Yet Sandra Almanzar had a different experience as a schoolgirl and chose a different path
for her daughter. When Ms. Almanzar came from the Dominican Republic, she said, she
thrived in a bilingual program and moved within a year to regular classes. Ms. Almanzar,
32, has enrolled her 6-year-old daughter in a dual language program where subjects are
taught in English one day and Spanish the next. ''It'll benefit her, and I also want her to
keep up with Spanish,'' she said.
Among immigrant groups, views about the programs that are meant to ease their
children's transition into English can be as mixed as a parent's own memories of learning
English for the first time. Some groups of parents, like the émigrés from the former
Soviet Union, seem overwhelmingly to reject bilingual education, while staunch
supporters can be found among other groups -- parents from Haiti and the Dominican
Republic, for example.
But parents' opinions seem more often shaped by intensely personal factors rather than by
any collective attitude. Often, their decisions have to do with things like how often they
fly back to the home country, whether the child will be baby-sat by his non-Englishspeaking grandmother and whether the child will pick up the bilingual teacher's foreign
accent when speaking English.
The views of parents will acquire new importance under a proposal by Schools
Chancellor Harold O. Levy that comes before the Board of Education for a vote next
Tuesday. The chancellor is asking that parents, not administrators, decide in which
language program to place students who are not proficient in English.
For some parents, loyalty to the native language results from proximity to the home
country. Ms. Almanzar said her daughter's ability to talk with non-English-speaking
relatives back home was paramount. ''I go back and forth to my country, and I want her to
be able to communicate with my family,'' she said.
By contrast, the rejection of bilingual programs among Russian parents sometimes
reflects a more total severing of ties -- relatives and friends have also moved here -- or
even a deeper rejection of the native country.
Among Russian Jews, said Vladimir Epshteyn, president of the Metropolitan RussianAmerican Parents Association, ''Some parents say, 'Why keep the language of the country
that gave us a very difficult time?' ''
Sometimes, the degree to which parents want their children to assimilate is dictated by
family dynamics. In Brooklyn, Yvonia Direny, 33, a native of Haiti whose 10-year-old
son and 7-year-old daughter attend bilingual programs in Creole at Public School 6, said
that for her family Creole was a necessity. Their father, who speaks mostly Creole, is
able to help them with homework. Their Creole-speaking grandmother can baby-sit.
''If my children didn't speak Creole, their grandmother wouldn't be able to take care of
them,'' said Ms. Direny, a special education teacher's assistant.
Currently, students who test low on English skills must attend either bilingual classes
offered in 12 languages or E.S.L. classes. The chancellor's proposal would allow parents
to choose from two other options: a dual language program now offered in only 60
schools but expected to be expanded to 20 others, and a new accelerated version of E.S.L.
The original programs in New York City were mandated in the mid-1970's by a consent
decree that resulted from a federal lawsuit filed on behalf of Puerto Rican students who
were experiencing high dropout rates. But, today, the Latino population is much more
diverse, with Spanish speakers hailing from the Dominican Republic, Mexico and South
America, and high dropout rates are attributed to factors like overcrowded classrooms
rather than to language barriers.
Only about a quarter of Latino students, 26 percent, participate in bilingual and E.S.L.
programs, Board of Education data shows. But most students in bilingual and E.S.L.
programs, about 65 percent of a total of 160,000, are Spanish-speaking, and views among
Latino parents differ sharply. A survey last year by the Hispanic Federation found that
support for bilingual education had eroded among Latinos, to 47 percent of respondents
from 53 percent the previous year, and that the higher the education and income of
respondents the more supportive they were of an English-only education.
In interviews over the last few weeks with more than two dozen people whose children
speak Spanish, Russian, Cantonese, Creole, Polish and Urdu, the parents spoke
passionately about language programs for their children, many of whom are Americanborn but grew up speaking a foreign language at home. On one end of the spectrum, there
are parents who said they felt their children could handle two languages comfortably, that
doing so will benefit them in an increasingly global economy.
''The important thing is that they don't forget Spanish,'' said Elizabeth Cabrera, 38, whose
three children -- two daughters ages 15 and 11 and a 12-year-old son -- arrived from the
Dominican Republic less than two years ago and attend bilingual programs in Manhattan
schools. She said the schools would teach her children ''correct'' Spanish much better than
she could ever do herself. ''The more languages they know, the more opportunities they'll
have,'' she said.
On the other end, there are parents who expect the schools to put their children quickly
on an equal footing with American students by immersing them in English. Among these
is Romana Khan, a homemaker who arrived in New York eight years ago from Pakistan
with her husband, a cabdriver, and who speaks Urdu to her four children. She said she
wants her children to be bilingual, but not in school.
''New York is the city of immigrants, and most of them speak their native languages at
home,'' said Ms. Khan, whose three daughters, ages 10, 8 and 5, attend P.S. 225 in
Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. ''So when we send them to school we just say, 'Please teach
English to them.' ''
At Junior High School 56 in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, a group of nine Chinese
parents, most of them recently arrived immigrants, stood solidly behind bilingual
education and said their children's older age was one reason. Situ Fyang, 45, said that
when she enrolled her twin sons, now 16, in school after arriving from China three years
ago she worried they would end up dropping out of school because of the culture shock.
The bilingual program, she said, has given the boys time to adjust to their new life.
She argued that for teenage children, unlike elementary school students, it is easier to
keep up with subjects in their native language and later catch up on their English.
Patrick Fiscina, assistant principal at the junior high school, noted that keeping up with
subjects is a higher priority than learning English quickly for his students because they
have to pass state and city exams to advance to the next grade. (Except for the English
tests, city and state exams are offered in native languages.)
''If we had put them in an English class, they would have been lost,'' Ms. Fyang said
through a translator.
But in some school districts, parents have rejected bilingual programs en masse. In
District 21 in Brooklyn, Russian immigrants have historically opted for E.S.L. programs
instead of bilingual classes, said Anita Malta, executive assistant to the superintendent.
''We would form a class, and they'd say no,'' she said. ''They were concerned about
bilingual education holding their kids back.''
At P.S. 225 in Brighton Beach, Ms. Kovardinskaya and other mothers said English, not
history or other subjects, was what their children must master first. They said they did not
want their children segregated by language in bilingual classes.
''It could affect them for life,'' said Wanda Komar, whose son, Eric, is a kindergartner
who grew up speaking Russian and Polish. ''At that age they're confused, they can't find
their identity.''
Officials from several Chinese community organizations said some Asian parents are
concerned about the poor English skills of some bilingual teachers, nearly a third of
whom are uncertified; the parents are afraid their children will learn to speak English
with an accent, the officials said.
The chancellor's proposed changes, school officials said, were prompted by problems in
the program -- particularly that about 10 percent of participants remain in bilingual and
E.S.L. classes for seven years or more -- and complaints from parents who wanted more
say.
Board of Education studies show that among the three major language groups, 68 percent
of Spanish-speaking students, 97 percent of Russian speakers and 93 percent of Chinese
speakers exit bilingual programs within three years.
Among E.S.L. students, 77 percent of Spanish speakers, 85 percent of Russian speakers
and 87 percent of Chinese speakers left within the same period.
The goal of the chancellor's proposed modifications, school officials said, is to develop
proficiency in English in three years. Many parents, however, said that the changes do
not fix underlying problems like uncertified teachers and lack of appropriate textbooks.
''Instead of four options they should improve the system they already have,'' said Mirna
Burgos, president of the parents' association at P.S. 132 in Washington Heights.