The Fight for
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The goal was to get students back into school, but in a setting where they could succeed." - Joseph Rodriguez, Nuestro Milwaukee: The Making of the United Community Center
The rise of the Latinx population and bilingual education in Wisconsin
While Latinx populations have been arriving and settling in Wisconsin since the late 1860s,[1] they have come in much greater numbers over the last few decades of the twentieth century. Indeed, “With greater than 200% growth in its Latino population between 1980 and 2000”[2] alone, Wisconsin is faced with the challenge of providing adequate resources for its burgeoning Latinx communities. Generally, Wisconsin has struggled in this endeavor, and this is particularly true of access to adequate education.
From the beginning, linguistic barriers and biases defined the educational experience of the Latinx community. Indeed, in the late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-centuries, while Wisconsin’s European immigrant communities had successfully advocated for bilingual education programs in their native languages in both private and public schools, Latinx communities were not given the same opportunity, as teachers and legislators saw Spanish-speakers as deficient, uncultured, and undereducated. English-only instruction made it difficult for Latinx students to protect their cultural and linguistic heritage.[3] Many Spanish speakers immigrating to the United States were migrant workers, escaping poor economic conditions at home, and often worked in jobs other Anglos did not want to do.[4]
However, in the 1970s, the passing of the Wisconsin Bilingual Bicultural Law required schools to create bilingual programs and hire at least one bilingual-certified teacher.[5] But these programs had limited impact, as (1) Spanish-language instruction was framed as a means to enhance and enable English-language education, and (2) how these policies were actually implemented was largely left to localities, resulting in a lack of consistency statewide.[6]
Thus, as the twenty-first century approached, there was still work to be done in providing adequate educational opportunity for the Latinx community. Indeed, these problems went beyond just the school system: the overwhelming absence of Spanish-language Masses and instructional materials further isolated the Latinx community in Milwaukee from both other Catholics and their own heritage.[7] Recognizing that “Language instruction is important because it signals attitudes about how nonnative English speakers should be viewed and treated,”[8] an examination of bilingual education advocacy is called-for.
From the beginning, linguistic barriers and biases defined the educational experience of the Latinx community. Indeed, in the late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-centuries, while Wisconsin’s European immigrant communities had successfully advocated for bilingual education programs in their native languages in both private and public schools, Latinx communities were not given the same opportunity, as teachers and legislators saw Spanish-speakers as deficient, uncultured, and undereducated. English-only instruction made it difficult for Latinx students to protect their cultural and linguistic heritage.[3] Many Spanish speakers immigrating to the United States were migrant workers, escaping poor economic conditions at home, and often worked in jobs other Anglos did not want to do.[4]
However, in the 1970s, the passing of the Wisconsin Bilingual Bicultural Law required schools to create bilingual programs and hire at least one bilingual-certified teacher.[5] But these programs had limited impact, as (1) Spanish-language instruction was framed as a means to enhance and enable English-language education, and (2) how these policies were actually implemented was largely left to localities, resulting in a lack of consistency statewide.[6]
Thus, as the twenty-first century approached, there was still work to be done in providing adequate educational opportunity for the Latinx community. Indeed, these problems went beyond just the school system: the overwhelming absence of Spanish-language Masses and instructional materials further isolated the Latinx community in Milwaukee from both other Catholics and their own heritage.[7] Recognizing that “Language instruction is important because it signals attitudes about how nonnative English speakers should be viewed and treated,”[8] an examination of bilingual education advocacy is called-for.
References
[1] Sergio González, Mexicans in Wisconsin (Madison: Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2017), 5.
[2] Rebecca Lowenhaupt, “Bilingual Education Policy in Wisconsin’s New Latino Diaspora,” In Revisiting Education in the New Latino Diaspora, ed. Edmund Hamman, Stanton Wortham, and Enrique G. Murrillo Jr (Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, Inc., 2015), 249.
[3] Sergio González, Mexicans in Wisconsin (Madison: Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2017), 22.
[4] Ronald Takaki, A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America (Little Brown and Company, 1993), 316-320.
[5] Rebecca Lowenhaupt, “Bilingual Education Policy in Wisconsin’s New Latino Diaspora,” In Revisiting Education in the New Latino Diaspora, ed. Edmund Hamman, Stanton Wortham, and Enrique G. Murrillo Jr (Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, Inc., 2015), 249.
[6] Rebecca Lowenhaupt, “Bilingual Education Policy in Wisconsin’s New Latino Diaspora,” In Revisiting Education in the New Latino Diaspora, ed. Edmund Hamman, Stanton Wortham, and Enrique G. Murrillo Jr (Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, Inc., 2015), 251-252.
[7] Fr. Ivan J. Rohlhoff, “Need Materials in Spanish to Help Hispanics,” Catholic Herald Citizen, 1 March 1980, 9.
[8] Katherine Reed, “School Incorporation and High School Completion among Latino Youth,” American Journal of Education 121, no. 3 (May 2015), 351.
[2] Rebecca Lowenhaupt, “Bilingual Education Policy in Wisconsin’s New Latino Diaspora,” In Revisiting Education in the New Latino Diaspora, ed. Edmund Hamman, Stanton Wortham, and Enrique G. Murrillo Jr (Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, Inc., 2015), 249.
[3] Sergio González, Mexicans in Wisconsin (Madison: Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2017), 22.
[4] Ronald Takaki, A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America (Little Brown and Company, 1993), 316-320.
[5] Rebecca Lowenhaupt, “Bilingual Education Policy in Wisconsin’s New Latino Diaspora,” In Revisiting Education in the New Latino Diaspora, ed. Edmund Hamman, Stanton Wortham, and Enrique G. Murrillo Jr (Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, Inc., 2015), 249.
[6] Rebecca Lowenhaupt, “Bilingual Education Policy in Wisconsin’s New Latino Diaspora,” In Revisiting Education in the New Latino Diaspora, ed. Edmund Hamman, Stanton Wortham, and Enrique G. Murrillo Jr (Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, Inc., 2015), 251-252.
[7] Fr. Ivan J. Rohlhoff, “Need Materials in Spanish to Help Hispanics,” Catholic Herald Citizen, 1 March 1980, 9.
[8] Katherine Reed, “School Incorporation and High School Completion among Latino Youth,” American Journal of Education 121, no. 3 (May 2015), 351.