Puerto Rico announced yesterday that it aims to make all its public school students bilingual by the year 2022. To that end, Gov. Luis Fortuño has proposed a plan to require all public schools to teach all courses in English instead of Spanish — except for Spanish grammar and literature, of course. On the surface, this might seem like a good plan, after all, we all know the power of bilingualism. But once you look at it for what it really is — a political move by a governor who wants Puerto Rico to become the 51st state of the Union — it’s very difficult for me to stand behind this proposal.
Before I continue, let me disclose (for those of you who don’t already know) that I’m married to a Puerto Rican whose entire family still lives there. I’ve visited Puerto Rico countless times since I met my husband back in 1997, as well as a journalist covering all types of stories for Univision. I’ve had the pleasure of spending time with people with completely different views regarding what should happen with their island, from those who want to become the 51st state to those who want to become independent. And so, although I’m not Puerto Rican, my views have been tainted by the time I’ve spent there, the people I’ve met and, more than anything, my husband’s family.
As a huge proponent of bilingual education — particularly of dual language immersion programs — I found myself between a rock and a hard place after I found out yesterday that Puerto Rico announced to the world that it wants to become fully bilingual within 10 years. On the one hand, I obviously believe wholeheartedly that bilingual is better. Here at SpanglishBaby, we’ve spent the last three years exalting the benefits of speaking more than one language and, as most of you know, we just got done writing a book all about this topic. And yet, I can’t support bilingual education when it’s done for political motives, at the expense of another culture and in a forceful manner. It has to be an option, not an imposition. Many Puerto Ricans, including my husband, feel the same way.
In fact, although she supports bilingual education, even the president of the Puerto Rico Teachers Association feels that teaching all courses in English is extreme. “This is wrong,” Aida Diaz told The Associated Press. “This leads us to substitute our own language for a secondary one. It should not be that way.”
The politics behind Fortuño’s proposal are as complicated as the contentious history between the U.S. and it’s one and only colony, Puerto Rico. Suffice it to say that, for many Puerto Ricans, the idea of imposing a mostly all-English curriculum in public schools puts them one step closer to statehood. While about half the islanders support this, many others want to remain a U.S. Commonwealth. A very small minority, wants independence.
Here’s the thing: Both English and Spanish are the official languages of Puerto Rico, but about 96 percent of the island’s 3.9 million people speak Spanish at home. In others words, Spanish is, undeniably, the majority language. I think that’s one of the biggest misconceptions about Puerto Rico. While a lot of people over there — including my husband’s family — understand, speak and even read and write in English, they conduct themselves in Spanish all day long and in every aspect of their lives. To all of a sudden switch to teaching all courses in English instead of Spanish and to make it mandatory is, in no uncertain terms, an imposition. And becoming bilingual because you’re forced to, is no good — regardless of the benefits.
Interestingly enough, even many of those who are in favor of statehood and are themselves bilingual feel this way. For them, it’s like they want to become the 51st state, but not at the expense of what it means to be Puerto Rican and one of those things is their native language, which is tied to their traditions, heritage and most of all, their music. And that’s the one thing any Latino who reads SpanglishBaby should be able to identify with. After all, isn’t that exactly what we’re all trying to do?
In the end, I guess you have to be Puerto Rican (or married to one) to truly understand the intricacies of their past and see why imposing English in public schools is such a sensitive issue.
{Image via Joe Shlabotnik}
How do you feel about a government imposing bilingualism on all children?
That is precisely why I do not think statehood is a good idea for Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is Spanish-speaking. It has been Spanish-speaking ever since the days of Columbus. To teach all courses in English is to disrespect its history, its local language, and the culture represented by that language. Puerto Rico no es como el resto de los Estados Unidos. Hay que respetar la lengua y la cultura de Borinquen…
Oh Noooo!!! From an educational perspective, the plan is a disaster and not bilingual education at all sino Foreign Language teaching. (It reminds me of the movement in the US to switch to the metric system.) I wonder how many times in the past this was proposed and flopped and I wonder where Don Fortuño plans on getting the BILLIONS of dollars that it will take to make this happen…you can’t teach Math or Science etc..in English if you don’t know English. ! While many do have a grasp of English, there are MANY, MANY who don’t! Aye…Dios Mio! Thanks for bringing this to our attention!
How convenient! Most if not all of the politicians and people pushing for Puerto Rico to become a state conduct themselves in English. I would say, “vengan a mi isla y convenzanme en mi idioma.” This is not only immoral, but it is disrespectful and abusive. Mr. Fortuño will probably say next, “Do you want more cupones de alimentos? Then speak English.” Seriously, this is just another attempt to take away the little personality or identity we have left. The U.S.A. keeps making money from the Puerto Rican people, while taking away their rights, allowing crime to infest the island they control, keeping them lazy through excessive welfare, paying teachers low wages and now they also want to take away our beloved language. In my opinion this is not an example of bilingual education, instead this is just another attempt of assimilation, by taking away the essence of the people of my beautiful country. What’s next? I guess no olympic identity or to exclude us from Miss Universe. Are they going to take away our salsa, bomba y plena? Oh I can see it…hamburgers and french fries will be the menu of the day; forget arroz con habichuelas con carne frita y mofongo.
While I agree it should be an option that people choose, I dont think teaching all subjects in English will change the daily lives of Puerto Ricans from Spanish to English. If it is done in a public school, then it would be giving a great opportunity for kids to have the ability to really learn English. I teach in a Colombian school that uses American curriculum to teach English, Math, and Science starting in primary school. Then in middle school the kids have science, english, social studies, and sometimes math in English. There is very little chance that English will take over their daily lives because I can´t even get the kids to speak English to each other in my classes. My school is a Colombian school with Colombian administration and I think it does a good job of teaching them as Colombians from a Colombian context while also giving them the opportunity to truly become bilingual. I think that Colombia actually has the same goals about becoming bilingual in a certain amount of years, but everyone just laughs because there is no way that will happen with the current resources and english level of teachers.
Thanks so much for your input, Ali. Unfortunately, unlike Colombia, the history of Puerto Rico is completely intertwined with that of the United States and its goal to completely dominate al aspects of life in the island. In other words, this might not be such a problem — as long as it’s an option — in other countries of the world that are not colonies of the United States, but once you delve into all the historical and political issues behind this proposal, you can see that the purpose is not bilingualism per se.
I went to a dual language school back home in Perú where the majority of my subjects were taught in English from kindergarten on and yet, my country is not a colony of the U.S. and therefore I had pretty much no contact with English once I left the school. I can tell you right now that this is definitely NOT the case in Puerto Rico! Therefore, it’s impossible to look at this proposal without taking politics and history into consideration.
I just wanted to add that I worked at a bilingual elementary school in Madrid where the program has been ambitiously implemented in almost all schools in the Comunidad de Madrid and all over Spain. It’s not really optional, unless you want to take your children to a different neighborhood (which I’m not sure is allowed). It is just as Ali described her program and situation in Colombia. Languages should enrich and not take away from any culture.
Yeah – I don´t really know much about the context of Puerto Rico so I guess its hard for me to judge how strong the influence of English speaking culture already is. Although I guess I could just look at the Reggaeton music to see.
What is the public school system like? Closer to a typical American system with at least some semblance of diversity among socioeconomic status or closer to a Latin American type public school system?
Hopefully somebody could negotiate about maybe having a more 50-50 english and spanish throughout the day especially if there is already a lot of exposure to English.
I have actually LIVED IN PUERTO RICO for 20 years and actually attended their public schools. One word can describe its quality and that is IT SUCKS. The English program is pitiful.
First, Paul Gutman….what does statehood has to do with this issue? in fact I argue that US is a bilingual country from its beginning…I know it is a shock to you but if you go beyond the 13 original colonies you will find that before the English Europeans showed up Spanish was the language spoken in the majority of the land we call the United States you said it yourself we have been around since Columbus…dude that is 100 years before the pilgrims arrived. Why do you think the very wise founding fathers did not put into law a national language? think about it. But since you brought it up the status question….your post exemplifies the problem with the status issue in PR, misunderstanding, lies, ignorance, and exaggerations and this is why we can never make up our mind.
Okay Soto you need some reality checks….from a person who has been there done that….first Puerto rico is a colony BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT THE BORICUAS HAVE VOTED FOR PLEBISCITE AFTER PLEBISCITE….I do not like it but UNLIKE YOU…I respect the decision of my compatriots and for many puertorricans calling it a colony is insulting and degrading. Second reality check for you, You write “United States and its goal to completely dominate all aspects of life in the island”. Well sister I have news for you. For the past 100 years the feds have total control over its ports, it mail, its money, its airwaves, what they hear, see and eat. If they wanted to impose anything they could have, but the fact is they haven’t at the degree of total dominance. Third, and memorize this one, if you study the plebiscites results it is clear as day that 80% of the population do not want to severe it ties to the US they cherish their US citizenship.
Which is why the change proposed by the goverment is something worth considering, PR unemployment is at 20%, because of this most of its top people leave for the US and many of those top people have to take jobs that are beneath their capacities becuase they cannot speak or write English well enough. I have plenty of examples of this in my family. You worry about culture…but if you think about it is the constant migration to and from the US is what changing the culture of the island more then any agenda from the US or English classes.
As people like you debate about “the US secret agenda” all over the world countries are committing to full immersion, fearlessly, they see what lies ahead for their children and are getting ready. I wish I can say the same for PR but your blog illustrate why it will get nowhere…I read your blog and the reason you dislike the idea is not based on merits but your suspicions of the United States and the governor political motives in other words feelings take over and the brain shut down….in the end no progress as we will continue to fall more and more behind, as more and more people leave making it a geriatric island.
Imposing language learning on kids is probably not a good idea, I don’t care where you live. Instead, why not give every kid the opportunity to learn a second language? And why not make a myriad of languages available, with each district or a series of articulated schools within a district teaching what the public wants? In some districts this will be Spanish, but in others it could be Chinese, French, Arabic, Hindi, or Russian. Access to quality opportunities to learn another language should be imposed on kids, not a language itself.
It’s expensive to offer all of those languages, and the reality is that more economic opportunities exist for people who speak English.
It actually isn’t expensive to offer quality second language learning, that’s a myth. In fact, programs in Oregon, Connecticut and handful of other states show that bilingual immersion is usually a cost-neutral prospect. In other words, it doesn’t need to cost a school district any more than what they’re currently doing. Check out Portland Public Schools in Oregon.
And as far as your claim that more economic opportunities exist for people who speak English, that is patently untrue. While English is important and every kid should be proficient in it, more economic opportunities actually exist for graduates who speak two or more languages. Over the last five plus years I’ve surveyed major employers like Nike, Intel, Columbia Sportswear, Hasbro, and more than 80 others in five states via the State Roadmaps to Language Excellence Project (http://www.thelanguageflagship.org/business/roadmaps-and-reports) and the findings in every state echo a common theme: kids with great second language skills are few and far between. And are in great demand.
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