Bilingual programs in the New York Times

In the New York Times, Samuel Friedman describes opposition from New York parents to their children being placed in bilingual programs. Having read earlier accounts similar to Freedman's in the past, I anticipated there might be similar opposition in Milwaukee.

My experience while on the Milwaukee school board with Hispanic parents' attitudes towards bilingual programs was quite different. As part of our neighborhood schools plan we did extensive surveys and held public hearings to ask parents what it would take for them to send their kids to the neighborhood school. One clear conclusion was that parents wanted more bilingual programs and they wanted them in their neighborhood school so that their children wouldn't have to ride a bus.

My own bias is that most children find it far easier than most adults to pick up a new language so that a long transition period is not needed in most cases. But in Milwaukee many Hispanic parents did not share that view. Perhaps parents in Milwaukee have so many choices that those who dislike bilingual programs simply do not choose them and have no reason to oppose them.

In essence, Friedman short-circuits the argument. Instead of demonstrating that bilingual programs are less effective than English immersion, he changes the subject to the actions of a stupid, insensitive bureaucracy.