The Blind Lead the Naked

I work at a dual language school. A dual language school provides students the opportunity to learn another language and to complete grades K-6 as they achieve academic and oral language proficiency in this second language. English speaking students take a number of core classes in Spanish during their K-6 experience which allow them to reach a 6th grade level of Spanish academics. Simultaneously, the Spanish speaking students receive half of their education in Spanish (to maintain their first language) while they learn English for academic and social purposes. The theory is that both groups will exit sixth grade successful in both languages. Theory is a wonderful thing. However, when theory leaves the paper on which it is written and enters the real world, unpredictable issues arise.

Our students exit and enter our dual language program for a number of reasons, many of which have nothing to do with what would be better for the students academically or socially. Sometimes, they enter because a school needs to boost numbers. It is not politically correct in educational circles to claim the following but I am going to say it anyway. There are some students who cannot handle academics in two languages.

This afternoon I observed a poster drawn by a sixth grade girl and on it she had written that one of the hardest things she was dealing with was the death of her older brother. I do not know the details of this death, but so many of our students lose family members to street violence. Emotional pain like that makes it difficult for a child to succeed academically. Other students have difficulty with cognitive issues and learning disabilities. Others struggle with ADHD, extreme social dysfunction and violence directed toward themselves and others. Many of these students should not be placed into a dual language program. They need to experience emotional healing first and then they can work on success in their first language.

One little boy struggling with behavior, attitude, effort and academics in a non-dual language class, magically appeared this week in a dual language class. He had been relocated by some well-meaning and mis-informed person somewhere in a higher echelon who decided that a dual language classroom experience might be a better place for him. Perhaps he or she envisioned him rising to a new challenge. Perhaps he or she thought he was bored. Perhaps he or she thought this dual language theory could be applied to any child with behavioral issues. Perhaps. Did this new placement change anything? Apparently not, for this week the student is doing exactly the same thing in the new classroom. Now that there is a second language challenge added to the student's day, I expect that he will continue to struggle at an even faster rate. Any expert questioned about his behavior in the future, may be tempted to say, "Well...you know it is a language issue..."