Southern Bilingual Education

Bilingual education has become increasingly important with an influx of immigration and an increase in mixed race children with multiple language backgrounds entering school. The Southern United States is usually steadily behind the rest of the country in a lot of areas; education, social justice reform, equality, reproductive rights, etc. The trend continues for bilingual education as well. Alabama is one of the only states without a school solely devoted to bilingual education. They have English learning program, but no specific bilingual education, leaving out a majority of it’s population in education. They have attempted single language immersion programs that have failed, mainly because they isolate immersion students from English speaking students, only hindering their progress and potentially muting their native tongue in the process.

In an article by PRI, Public Radio International, there are three reasons attributed to the lack of and/or the failure of bilingual education in the south. The first stated problem is the lack of training of bilingual educators. There are plenty of teachers that are willing and able to teach bilingual education, but do not have the proper training to do so. Dely Velez Roberts is one of three bilingual educators in the state of Alabama. She and her two colleagues travel the state coaching and training teachers who are begging for training. Another reason attributed to the lack of biligual education is the fact that state politicians don’t push for it. The author attributes this to the fact that our politicians do not think like educators. The have no experienc ein the classroom therefore they don’t fully understand the desperate need for this type of education. The final reason is one that characterizes much of teh south in many areas, stigma. When it comes to bilingual education it is assumed that the only people who want or need it or immigrants that are assumes to be here illegally. Politicians, some educators, and some parents are against bilingual education solely because they believe it will permit an influx of immigarnt families.

All of the reasons listed above are fixable. It is possible to train teachers, inform politicians, and remove stigma. The failure of immersion programs have led some to believe that bilingual education as a whole will also fail. the author is a strong supporter of Dual Language immersion. This kind of immersion had proven to be successful globally. A large part of the population is in need of bilingual education, denying students of this is denying them access to equal education of their peers.

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