If trend-setting California passes the English For the Children initiative on June 2, that will be good news for public school children all over the country. This initiative would require that all children in California public schools be taught in English, in English-language classrooms. No, that's too kind a word. It's really native-language instruction. Bilingual education is language apartheid.
Bilingual education is a proven failure.
Three million immigrant children nationwide are kept in segregated classrooms for up to 80 percent of the day, often for five to seven years, never learning English. The number has more than doubled during the past decade. California schools are now mandated to teach in 42 different languages. Across the country, the number is 60. It is depressing to ponder the fact that 300,000 students in Los Angeles and 147,000 in New York City can't speak English.