By
Jose Ceja
Arizona Daily Wildcat
English-only legislation makes futures uncertain for bilingual ed majors
As the implementation of Proposition 203 approaches, the UA College of Education is being forced to consider what the future of its bilingual education program will be.
Terry McCarty, head of the UA program for Language, Reading and Culture, said Proposition 203 - which will end bilingual education in Arizona - has created confusion in the education college, prompting speculation as to the future of the bilingual education program.
"The college is in the process is of reviewing all of our curriculum, particularly with regard to the courses designed for people preparing to be teachers," she said.
Proposition 203, passed by a 2-1 margin Nov. 7, will place English-deficient students into one-year immersion programs.
Next week, the UA College of Education Bilingual Education program will meet to finish a position paper, intended to review its curriculum and to inform the UA community about how the proposition will affect the college.
McCarty said the paper emphasizes the increasing need for all teachers to have bilingual skills, since, under the proposition, English-deficient students will be put into class with English speakers.
"We need to look at the curriculum with an eye to infuse them with the knowledge, preparation and skills to be able to address linguistic and cultural diversity in all of its many facets," she said.
Another issue that will be addressed in the paper, McCarty said, will be the need for the UA College of Education to prepare students to teach in Arizona and elsewhere - something which is becoming increasingly difficult as the proposition is implemented.
"This particular piece of legislation is the most repressive on the books of any state in the United States," McCarty said.
Toni Griego Jones, an associate dean of the College of Education, said that although there has been no drop in students seeking a degree in bilingual education, it is still too early to tell how the proposition will affect the UA.
"Confusion is probably the only effect right now," Jones said.
Jones said she predicts that teaching English as a second language will eventually be assimilated into the curricula of all education majors.
"All teachers will need to know a little more about what it means to teach ESL," she said.
Elizabeth Lujan, an elementary education senior who hopes to teach bilingual students, agreed that there is confusion among students as to the future of the program.
"We really don't know what's going to happen," she said.
Lujan said that although it is becoming increasingly unlikely that she will teach ESL in Arizona, she will not change her plans.
Lujan said it makes her uneasy, however, that teachers can have their licenses revoked for not abiding by the English-only regulation.
"It's like if somebody else sees you (speaking in Spanish), then you get in trouble for just trying to help," she said.
"I am obviously not in this for the money, though," she said.
Jose Ceja can be reached at Jose.Ceja@wildcat.arizona.edu.
