Although no supporter of bilingual education would advocate that Hispanic immigrants not learn English, a 1992 survey showed that nationally, Hispanic Americans overwhelmingly support bilingual education.
Hispanic children are in the worst performing, most segregated schools in the country.
Whenever bilingual programs are available, they are marginalized within the school system and, contrary to Ms. Callaghan's figures, underfinanced. It would be better to stop scapegoating bilingual education for the failures of public education and start using bilingual education as the basis for community empowerment and greater school reform. Then the dropout rate might begin to decrease.