Post 137: Lau vs Nichols--Landmark decision that established ESL and Bilingual Ed

Post 137: Lau vs Nichols--Landmark decision that established ESL and Bilingual Ed

In 1974, the Supreme Court case, Lau vs Nichols had by far the most impact in establishing the legitimacy of ESL and Bilingual Education. Lau vs Nichols stated that Chinese students in San Francisco were not getting the proper English instruction that they needed. Lau vs Nichols defined the legal responsibilities of schools to provide ELL with English instruction. However, Lau vs Nichols did not tell schools how they should implement such a program. "Lau vs Nichols gave impetus to the movement for equal educational opportunity for students who do not speak English. Lau raised the nation's consciousness of the need for Bilingual Education, encouraged further legislation..mandating bilingual education." (Ovando, 67)

If a school had at least 20 students who spoke the same foreign language, then that school had to provide ESL instruction to those students. Moreover, the 1975 Lau Remedies stipulated that students receive bicultural training so that students would be proficient in both their L1 culture and their L2 culture. These days, even Language Majority American English speaking parents want their children to learn another language, so they enroll their kids in bilingual programs to learn languages like Spanish, French, or Chinese. Parents realize that if their kids are bilingual at an earlier age, then they can work abroad in other countries and widen the scope of their kids job abilities and get an edge on the competition in a stiff business market.

If I had had access to bilingual education in elementary school and had gotten to learn about Chinese culture and learn to read and write Chinese while learning academic content in Chinese, I wonder if I would feel more proud to be Chinese or be more bilingual? What kind of person would I have become? Would I be more proud to be Chinese? Would I be able to read and write in Chinese and get a job in China? Would this mean more self-esteem in my heritage? Would I be less ashamed to be Chinese? Would Chinese Americans in general be more proud of their heritage instead of wanting to look and sound more European (American) if we had had more access to our heritage at a younger age?

I think that letting immigrant kids talk about their culture in the mainstream class raises their self esteem and motivation. I think that acknowledging other cultures helps kids tolerate other cultures better and helps English speaking kids have multiple perspectives of the world. I think that knowing another language and knowing about other cultures does not detract from a kid to learn English fluently nor does it detract from the kid learning about American culture and values. I think when English native speakers learn about immigrant cultures, English native speakers become more aware and appreciative of American values, American customs and American traditions.