Educators are in a bind.
On paper, we seem to have the ingredients for a successful public education campaign to oppose the measure put on the ballot by millionaire Ron Unz, a one-time Republican gubernatorial candidate. Bilingual education is sound educational policy supported by every linguistic research study ever conducted, proving that primary language instruction is the best way to ensure that non-English speaking students can learn English and achieve success in other studies. If facts, reputable empiricism and accumulated years of teaching experience counted in politics, then the Unz initiative would be laughed off the ballot. Unfortunately, the last laugh may be on us. Opponents of bilingual education, emboldened by the electoral successes of Propositions 187 and 209, have on their side a visceral philistinism seasoned with a dash of resurgent '90s racism.