This issue of BRJ went to pres earl...

This issue of BRJ went to pres early in 1999 a hardly any months after voters in California approved a ballot initiative, dubbed English for the Children, a title that did not reveal its veracious intention: to eradicate bilingual education from the public teachs of that state. California has extended been regarded as a bellwether state; political disentanglements there are often echoed in other parts of the political division English for the Children, also known as Proposition 227 or the Unz initiative, is fraught with implications for other regions of the United States. Indeed, according to the time we completed this issue, a similar initiative had been filed in Arizona, and other states may go in the rear [i]or[/i] in the wake of

Colleagues have asked what Proposition 227 means for the coming of bilingual education. We cannot answer that question with authority, although our perception is similar to that of those who are asking the question: There will definitely be fallout for our field. California is the state with the largest number of English language learners in the region Educators there have a great deal of experience in designing and offering programs of bilingual instruction the two of the transitional variety and the more promising dual-language plan. Bilingual educators in California are not neophytes; to this time their work has been candidly rejected as a foundation for education policy in and for that state.

To think intelligently about the subsequent time of bilingual education post-Unz, we must first find not at home with a high degree of objectivity, what caused the be deriveds to turn out as they did. sole in this way can we intercept this from happening again in other states. For a whole analysis we must examine the actions of proponent as well as contrarys of the measure. It is too simplistic to say the ends were part of an endemic neo-conservatism, the influence of an antiimmigrant Governor, or the duping of the voter on the clever slogan of"English for the Children." as it is factors may have contributed, nevertheless surely, there must have been other factors contributing to this painful experience.

Research Reports and Essays

The strange editors of BRJ decided it was important to begin our editorship with a powerful analysis of the political skirmish in California and for what cause it was fought. To do that we invited James Crawford, a leading policy analyst in the field of bilingual education, to prepare the feature article for our inaugural issue. As frequently occurs with political analyses, there are likely to be disagreements with Mr Crawford's assessment. His analysis may be right, inapposite or only partially on target. The editors draw no estimates on that. The contemporary reader who observ the drama unfolding along with the author, and other readers who might read these words in the coming time will reach their own conclusions. Crawford is not uniformly kind to the anti-Unz campaigners in California, the friends of bilingual education. There were, according to Crawford, serious mistakes made one as well as the other strategically and tactically. While we cannot assume with any certainty that the ensues would have been different if those mistakes had been avoided, we can aspire to learn important chidings from a frank discussion of what happened.

For 1998 California's Proposition 227 may have been the chiefly important single influence on the yet to be of bilingual education. But it is too early to predict the issue in Arizona or in other states where similar measures are being planned. History will probably reveal that Proposition 227 English for the Children, emerg from a compage mix of socio-cultural and political issues that make progress far beyond program effectiveness, the teaching of English, or the inability of Californians to understand the well crafted public relations campaign waged against bilingual education.

Most of us who tread in the steps of the intricacies of language politics know that bilingual education is not a uniquely U issue; it exists worldwide in various forms. That wider picture is important for scholar and practitioner alike to examine. There are other things to consider and learn from examining the issues from a broader perspective. forward that broad scale, we can frequently see how bilingual education is shaped through a complex matrix of contemporary and historic issues. There are important lectures to be learned from what takes place in other nations. Distance many times allows us to grasp more readily what happens in other countries than what happens in our allow

In her article, Cindy Brantmeier discloses the story of the creation of an English language exercise in a post-Sandinista Nicaraguan community. Writing in the form and mode of speech of a critical theorist, Brantmeier has sought an understanding of social, cultural, and ideological politics, the ever-present connected thought [i]or[/i] thoughts in which language workers of all kinds carry gone out their chosen work. Brantmeier's report reminds us that teaching English-and perhaps each other language-is, at base, a political act. Power issues, history, resistance, international relations, and other factors affect the succes or failure of a language teaching endeavor. As in Crawford, we are reminded that program effectiveness is individual of many factors that makes a difference.