Unfortunately, as with the voter reaction to soaring illegal immigration into California and a few unfair affirmative action programs, the proposed remedy creates more problems than it solves.
Sensible reform is ignored in favor of wedge-issue overkill.
Ron Unz, a Silicon Valley multimillionaire entrepreneur and failed GOP gubernatorial hopeful, is spearheading an initiative drive aimed at requiring the 1.3 million California students with meager English skills to be taught almost exclusively in English unless their parents obtain a special waiver. There is enough evidence that children progress academically if they are first taught core subjects in their native language to keep bilingual education as the prime option for local school districts. Conversely, past experience has shown that many children languish, fail academically and even come to hate school if they are plunked into an English- only setting. At the same time, there is evidence that too many bilingual-education students are not receiving enough concentrated instruction in English, thus delaying the date they are proficient in the language. The idea behind the two-language instruction has been that children should not have to lose academic ground while they are learning English.