Do we have a strategy? (9/16/05)

The educator shook her head.

There was no way the state’s policy made any sense.

Indiana has a growing Hispanic population, and there’s a growing need to teach English as a second language. Politicians love to posture on the language issue. It plays well with nativist crowds nervous about change to insist that new immigrants learn English.

And to a certain extent, they’re right. Hispanic immigrants and others will undoubtedly find greater success if they master the mother tongue of the majority of the population.

But while more Hispanic students arrive in Indiana classrooms, state support for teaching those students English is virtually non-existent.

The numbers are so pitiful they are astounding. What does the state of Indiana provide in additional funding to teach Hispanic children English, a key factor in their chances for educational success? Twenty-one dollars per student per year.

That’s right. Per year.

Meanwhile, through another program, there’s plenty of money available to teach English as a second language to Hispanic adults.

Does that make sense? Or is it, as one suspects, just another example of the lack of any over-arching strategy?

The educator shook her head at the foolishness of it all. And we shook ours as well. — J.R.[[In-content Ad]]