Bilingual education, it appears, is not the cause of dropping out - it is the cure. Parents could seek waivers to move their children into bilingual classes after 30 days of English immersion. California has fallen into a bad habit of trying to legislate the details of education, insurance, environmental safety and other complex, technical subjects through the initiative process. Too often, such initiatives are approved on the basis of simplistic slogans, establishing laws that are difficult to interpret and apply. Sound bites rather than research inform decisions as they have done in Mr. Zuckerman's piece.
Nobody knows one single best way to teach.
Very similar to the program the initiative calls for. The California State Department of Education reports that of the 1.4 million children identified as needing special programs based on their English proficiency fewer than a third have ever been in a bilingual classroom. In other words the authors of the initiative are trying to sell the public a program that is already failing them. It's clear that bilingual education can work well with qualified bilingual teachers, committed parents, a strong academic curriculum and consistent attention to student achievement. An example exists in the Calexico School District along the Mexican border.