by Lance T. Izumi, Fellow in California Studies
Pacific Research Institute
May 1997

Announcer lead: Time for Perspectives. Lance Izumi says that immigrant children want and need English language skills.

Recently, the San Francisco Examiner ran a series of articles on the language problems faced by the children of immigrants. According to a number of the educators quoted in the paper, the way to deal with the growing number of non-English-speaking students is to instruct them, in significant part, in their native language. For example, a Stanford education professor said that we need to change our education system to give equivalent weight to English and Spanish. A veteran teacher in Emeryville said that up until three years ago her school emphasized English speaking, but now encourages non-English-speaking students to use their native language.

The problem with such approaches is that they do not reflect the wishes of the vast majority of the parents of these non-English-speaking students. For instance, last year a national survey of Hispanic parents commisioned by the Center for Equal Opportunity found that these parents place an extremely high emphasis on their children acquiring English language skills. Indeed, 51 percent of these Hispanic parents considered learning to read, write and speak English the most important education goal for their children versus only 11 percent who felt that Spanish learning was most important. And despite the bluster of the multiculturalist lobby, only a miniscule 4 percent of these parents thought that learning about Hispanic culture should be a top priority. Further, a large and decisive majority of these Hispanic parents -- 63 percent, in fact -- favored their children being taught English as soon as possible, rather than postponing English instruction while being taught in Spanish. Finally, more than eight out of ten of these Hispanic parents agreed with the statement that "My child should be taught his or her academic courses in English, because he or she will spend more time learning English."

These Hispanic parents know instinctively what many educators do not, that is, that learning English is the most important way for their children to move up the economic ladder and become a productive part of mainstream American society. And, after all, isn't that why they came to the United States in the first place?

With a perspective, I'm Lance Izumi.