I want to reflect on this film for two reasons. One of the reasons is because I attended a bilingual school for 9 years. My grammar school started in a Mexican neighborhood in Chicago, it was only a pre-k program for Spanish speaking children. It expanded to third grade in the same facility, which was in a church. After about 7 years, it moved to down town Chicago. Because it moved it expanded all through sixth grade and eventually 8th grade. My three brothers and I attended this school, but now that my brother is older he constantly tells my mom that sending us to a bilingual school was a terrible decision. I am in Education 118 “Teaching in a Multicultural Society” with Professor Moje, where I am doing my final essay/project on bilingual teaching and learning.
I do think bilingual education is important for those students who need it, but I never needed it, therefore, I want to find if other students like me, were better off not attending a bilingual school.
The lady that did her interview in Spanish, said many things in which she contradicted herself. First of all, she along with her friend, organized the parent programs, in which they supported the needs of Latino parents. Secondly, she said her interview in Spanish, but didn’t support bilingual education. One thing I wondered was, did she not think that if students don’t learn both languages they will end up like her and only be able to speak one language? Also, the white teacher with the glasses, also bothered me. I feel that teachers like her, may be good teachers but also, their personal feelings may not allow them to reach their students at the level that they could be.
I want to be a teacher for the beginning years of my career. I would like to teach at my grammar school, because I think that many schools in urban cities need bilingual teachers to educate bilingual children. I think the Prop 187 video was a great idea, I will be referring to in my essay. I hope that after the essay, I can have a clear stand on this issue.
3 comments:
I also thought the prop 187 film was really interesting, especially the interviews with the teachers and volunteers. I hope that if the teacher who ended up leaving Hoover elementary saw today how she acted in the film, she would realize how racist she actually was. I also thought that the woman who only interviewed in Spanish was very contradictory as well- she voted yes on prop 187 but could only speak spanish? it didn't make sense to me either.
I am latino and did not attend a bilingual school nor did my mom who speaks spanish bring me up bilingual. I resent this for many reasons, for one I believe it is a lot easier to learn spanish as a child and am finding it difficult to learn now and two as I started getting older I started realizing that most of my family speaks spanish. Her reasoning for not teaching me is outdated yet rational (for her time) she didn't want me to develop an accent because she grew up in the chicano era where chicanos were heavily discriminated against. She didn't want me to have it as hard as she did. I say be thankful that you went to a bilingual school, knowing two languages is a very valuable tool that I hope to one day possess. I cant think of one negative thing, other than your unfavorable reflection on going to a Bil. school, that could result out of going to that school and being able to speak two languages.
I completely agree with Lucy and Falina. The Spanish-speaking woman who opposed Proposition 187 did seem hypocritical. I wanted to comment on her rage towards the guy who hit her with his car. It would be far-fetched to say that he had no regard for humanity simply because he did not stick around to check on her. She should have considered the matter from his perspective. Given that she assumed he was undocumented and that the problems in California or in her life were largely due to the undocumented Latinos, what if she pictured herself as an undocumented immigrant? If she had accidentally hit someone while driving, would she really have parked her car and gotten out to see if the person was okay, especially if she saw that the other person was fine from her rear view mirrors? She does not know if they guy who hit her did see that she was fine. May be, he had gotten in an accident before and had stopped, only to find out that bystanders get involved too and then there is no exit if the police is called.
Sometimes, people can be so ignorant and racist. We discussed intra-group discrimination in class; I would say this is one such case. May be I was so surprised because inter-group discrimination is expected from others, such as the white woman who left Hoover Elementary. But, one would expect that if majority of people outside your group are against you, then there should be solidarity amongst people from within your group. Of course, you could argue that second or third generation Mexican Americans might find it tough to do so with Mexican immigrants precisely because they do not have any idea what immigration and settling in the United States is all about; but, this Spanish-speaking woman is no such case – she could only speak Spanish, which indicates to me that she is not a second or third generational child. As for the white woman, I agree with Falina. I am fine with others expressing their opinions and actually appreciate hearing them; but, it was not what this woman was saying, it was how she was saying it. She was clearly racist and it would be hard for anyone to dispute this argument given her statements and body language. I think to some extent she was ignorant too. Not that it would have made a difference, but I wonder if she knew that Proposition 187 extended to healthcare related issues too. To say that people would be better off starving and dying from disease because our healthcare system, the world’s richest healthcare system, can not accommodate them is inhumane.
One thing that really struck me was how hard the bilingual teacher was. She was well-intentioned but who is she to be angry at the fact that the mother of the little girl who was the focus of the film pulled her daughter out of school and eventually returned to Central America? Rather than blaming the mother, she should reevaluate their circumstances here. The little girl said that she had seen shootings and even this teacher acknowledged that the school was in an unsafe location. The mother was working multiple jobs and there was no father in sight. Returning to their country safely is more important than that girl remaining in the fourth grade because if they were reported or killed while they were in America, it would have been much worse. I found her enmeshment in her student’s life quite annoying and intrusive. She should have been there to help out all her students in whatever capacity she could, not by being a private investigator and critiquing her students’ parents’ decisions. Their parents obviously risked a lot in coming to and staying in the United States for the time that they did; they would not make hasty decisions.
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