Arizona Border Communities Want English Immersion For Their Children

Parents and Teachers See English Instruction as Key to Opportunity

WASHINGTON D.C. – Two border school districts in Arizona, where most students are Hispanic, have embraced the state’s English immersion policy according to recent reports. In 2000, Arizona voters approved a policy of English immersion to replace bilingual instruction in the schools.

The law provides for waivers that allow some students to be taught in their native language. Nogales School District and Douglas Unified School District together comprise almost 11,000 students. Most are Hispanic and speak Spanish at home, yet both districts report that there have been no waiver requests for students to be taught in bilingual classrooms.

The reason for the lack of waivers is that parents, teachers and students are embracing English as the key to opportunity in America. Javier Barajas, a principal at Mary Welty Elementary School in Nogales states, “Most parents are very good Spanish speakers, better than the teachers, and they feel Spanish is prevalent enough. They want their kids to learn English desperately, and they don’t see this as a situation where something has been taken away.” (AP, Border school districts report no requests for English-only waivers, April 9, 2003.)

Lorenzo McGrew, who emigrated from Mexico to Arizona, stated, “I expect the school to teach my boy in English, so he can benefit in the future. . . Spanish he’ll learn at home.” (AP, Border school districts report no requests for English-only waivers, April 9, 2003.)

Mauro Mujica, Chairman and CEO of U.S. ENGLISH, notes that immigrant children are better served through English immersion rather than bilingual education classes. “School systems that provide bilingual education remove an important incentive for limited English-speaking students to learn English and ultimately confine them to low-skilled, low-paying jobs,” said Mujica. “The English language has the power to put immigrant children on an equal playing field and to unite us as a nation.”

U.S. English, Inc. is the nation's oldest and largest non-partisan citizens' action group dedicated to preserving the unifying role of the English language in the United States. Founded in 1983 by the late Sen. S.I. Hayakawa of California, U.S. English, Inc. (www.usenglish.org) now has more than 1.8 million members.