“Thanks to No Child Left Behind, my daughters were removed from class on Friday (with no previous warning and explanation to parents or them) and subjected to a test that only a handful of their peers had to take. I’m so glad and relieved to learn that they’re fluent in English. Apparently they’re at risk because a second language is spoken in the home. And all along I thought they were at risk of being smarter.”
The author of this paragraph, Idaho Rep. Brian Cronin, who has a master’s degree from Harvard, runs a Spanish language preschool and summer camp with his wife. I first wrote about this on one of my blogs on Monday, Sep. 19. I also discussed this on 43rd State Blues. As a parent who’s kids attend local schools, I felt the need to further analyze this situation.
Cronin’s point about his children getting smarter by speaking more than one languages is underscored by Joan Kelly Hall, who frames the dialogue well in her book Methods for Teaching Foreign Languages: Creating a Community of Learners in the Classroom. Hall underscores the deep value of multilingual homes, classrooms and communities in child development.
I know a nationalized citizen who has been here 37 years. She regularly speaks Spanish with her children. Should that give them a stigma?
Further interesting points were brought up in the Facebook discussion on Cronin’s page. Including:
“Yes, Idaho has a way to go. I once had a day-care provider refuse to provide services to a bright, healthy refugee child comparing their lack of English skills to being autistic. Needless to say, as they were receiving state funds, DHW got a call…”.
Cronin, who’s wife is from Ecuador, added:
“Here’s the most troubling/poignant part of all. Alana took this all in stride but Kyra was quite rattled and agitated by the whole ordeal. Getting called to principal’s office under mysterious circumstances is somewhat stigmatizing. She came home and both broke my heart and made me proud, talking about her rights having been violated: ‘Why should I be punished because of where my parents are from? I didn’t choose my parents!’”
Has anything like this happened in your state? And finally, if the students are trilingual, would they have to take even more tests? Such fundamental misunderstandings of learning and what is best for children beg for solutions.