Thus, many bilingual education programs have not succeeded because they were not adequately designed or implemented. Unz blames the failures experienced by English learners on bilingual education. Yet, only 30 percent of English learners are placed in a bilingual education program. His statistics also put the failures of minority students on the doorstep of bilingual education. Minority students account for more than half of public school enrollment in California.
English learners account for about one-fourth of enrollment.
So, more than half of minority students are not English learners and are not in bilingual education programs. The first language serves as the base upon which the second language is learned. A high percentage of language learning strategies, language structure and vocabulary, and reading strategies transfer from the first language to the second language. Hence, learning their primary language enables children to learn English more effectively and more efficiently. Further, learning subject matter in their primary language while they are acquiring academic English enables them to transition into mainstream classes at grade level.