The Next L.A. / Reinventing Our Future : Education : IDEA FILE: Bilingual Teaching and U.S.-Born Students

How It Works: Only immigrant children would receive instruction in their native language until they could learn English. U.S.-born children would be taught English in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten. In first grade, teaching would be done in English with the assistance of bilingual aides.

Benefits: Clearly this is an explosive issue, but the problem is that too few students are becoming proficient in English. This puts them at a distinct economic and social disadvantage when they come out of the public school system. Nearly 90% of students in the Los Angeles Unified School District are born in the United States. But 44%, mostly Spanish-speakers, speak little or no English. As a result, there are few immediate incentives to learn English in neighborhoods where Spanish is spoken at home, at stores and at school. A shortage of bilingual teachers is already fostering a generation of students who aren’t literate in either language.

Short-Term or Long-Term Impact?: Short-term.

Supporters: They say it would establish English as the primary language for all students, setting an easily understood, common standard. It would reduce language barriers dividing communities and would better prepare area students for college and the workplace.

Opponents: School administrators and bilingual teachers as well as some civil rights and immigrant advocacy groups. Opponents argue that it would be “forced assimilation,” could limit students’ fluency in their native languages and would hinder their overall academic progress.

The Costs: A savings for taxpayers. City schools could eliminate the bonus of $5,000 a year paid to bilingual teachers, and the cost of bilingual materials would be eliminated.

REALITY CHECK: Unlikely.