NCLB's Title III Rooted in American Nativism and the Halt Towards Progress for Children of Foreign Cultures (2010)

Undergraduate: Emily Batt

Faculty Advisor: Katie Pryal
Department: Latin American Studies

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Bilingual education programs may be the only way for every child in America to succeed in an increasingly well-educated world. They can potentially close the achievement gap that plagues our public school system. However, bilingual programs are being destroyed by the No Child Left Behind Act as it tightens its grasp on educational opportunity. Since 2002, No Child Left Behind (“NCLB”) has strived to create one dominant, English-only culture in public schools. I argue that the survival of NCLB’s English-only education component (Title III), despite its failure to close the achievement gap between language minority and majority students, reveals its discriminatory character. It is a nativist program intended to force assimilation on immigrant children. Title III will effectively stamp out a child’s attachment to his or her native culture, but will not boost achievement levels of minority students, which was its prescribed effect. In my paper, I first examine historical evidence showing how English-only policy has been fueled by anti-immigrant sentiment in America. I examine Lau v. Nichols (1974) where the Supreme Court supported bilingualism in schools. Then, I use contemporary pedagogical research by educational experts to demonstrate the negative impact of Title III on minority students. Finally, I will discuss the moral consequences on minority populations in the U.S. Title III needs revision to reestablish bilingual education and serve English-language learning children.