There is something called bilingual education—a scheme proposed in the late 1960s by Hispanic-American social activists, later endorsed by a congressional vote. It is a program that seeks to permit non-English-speaking children, many from lower-class homes, to use their family language as the language of school. (Such is the goal its supporters announce.) I hear them and am forced to say no: It is not possible for a child—any child—ever to use his family's language in school. Not to understand this is to misunderstand the public uses of schooling and to trivialize the nature of intimate life—a family's 'language.'


Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez (1982)

Richard Rodriguez Quotes

There is something called bilingual education—a scheme proposed in the late 1960s by Hispanic-American social activists, later endorsed by a...

There is something called bilingual education—a scheme proposed in the late 1960s by Hispanic-American social activists, later endorsed by a...

There is something called bilingual education—a scheme proposed in the late 1960s by Hispanic-American social activists, later endorsed by a...

There is something called bilingual education—a scheme proposed in the late 1960s by Hispanic-American social activists, later endorsed by a...