It’s scary how politics holds the reins over the educational system in the United States, particularly in regards to Arizona. ‘Keeping Up the Good Fight’: the said and unsaid in Flores v. Arizona (Thomas, Aletheiani, Carlson & Ewbank, 2014), paints a dark picture of the struggle in funding English Language Learning (ELL) programs in Arizona. Thomas (2014) depicts the struggle of ELL programs since 2001 by portraying the over twenty court cases, appeals, bills, and reforms in one linear chart (p.245-247). The chart provides only a snapshot of the struggle but shows the blatant disregard of Arizona’s politicians and society not protecting non-english speakers rights to be equally educated. The authors’ main argument can be summed in in one statement.
“Policies and practices follow a market-driven mentality in which the whims of supply and demand dictate who gets what, how much, how often and at what cost…language is left to the competitive market, a place where individuals and groups have to battle with each other for access” (Thomas et al., p. 250, 2014).
I hold this sentence to be representative of many of the struggles in education in the state of Arizona. The fact that Arizona’s legislators are more concerned with the bottom line than the improvement and success of those who need it is astounding. The ten years of fighting to disassemble ELL programs and the over 21 million dollars in fines that the state was willing to pay to not have to support students who were trying to learn english is a stark example of the growing disparity in education. Although this article only shows us the struggle of ELL programs and those in them, Tyrone Howard in Why Race and Culture Matter in Schools (2010), shows us the growing disparity between white and nonwhite students. A large reason for this growing disparity is due to the racial inequality throughout the history of the United States. This history of racial inequality is then reflected by Arizona’s resistance to help underprivileged groups such as non-english speakers.
I am also disappointed to say that the fault not only lies on the shoulders of Arizona’s politicians, but on Arizona’s society as well. I am ashamed to admit that I was not very aware of the struggles with funding ELL programs in Arizona. One of the reasons I (an active participant in Arizona) did not know about the programs is I took little to know time to even find out about or care about it. I was more focused on problems that I saw more pertinent such as higher education funding, taxation, teacher pay, and other various community issues. In this barrage of political topics, I neglected to even think of others outside my direct scope. I briefly remember reading the headlines in the local newspaper about ELL programs but glanced over it because it did not pertain to me. It was not until I read this article that I really began to understand the struggles of non-english speakers in the K-12 education system.
This article shows that it is important to listen to those affected by our political system. It should not take fines and court rulings for us as a society to listen to quieter voices. If people are asking for help so that they can succeed within our educational system, we should listen to their needs, not to the economic bottom line. One should not have to beg and file lawsuits to get educational programs that help them assimilate into a society in which they belong, we should encourage them by giving them the financial and physical resources support they need. By helping others grow as contributing, educated members of society, we help our community grow and learn in the process.
References
Howard, T. (2010). Why Race and Culture Matters in Schools: Closing the Achievement Gap in America’s Classrooms. New York, NY: Teacher’s Press
Thomas,M., Aletheiani, D., Carlson, D. & Ewbank, A. (2014). Keeping Up the Good Fight: the said and unsaid in Flores v. Arizona. Policy Futures In Education. Vol. 12.
ddrane
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Excellent point ddrane. I especially like your closing sentence about helping others because in doing so we are really helping ourselves.–helping ourselves to become culturally competent, to create a more just and equitable society and to live up to the ideals of this society that we have fallen short time and again.