Education
Bilingual Education

The historical pattern of attitudes towards bilingualism in the U.S. is characterized by moments of relative openness alternating with more restrictive periods. Particularly striking is the bifurcated or split policy and attitudes towards bilingualism depending on the native language/s of the persons to whom they apply. For those whose first language is English, bilingualism tends to be strongly promoted (ever more so in our rapidly globalizing world). Yet, rather than build on the bilingualism and biculturalism of children and youth who speak languages other than English at home, they are often made to feel ashamed of their first language/s, in school and in the wider society, and encouraged to switch to English as soon as possible. Given our large immigrant population, the U.S. should have one of the largest fully biliterate populations in the world. Yet Europe and other parts of the world are well ahead of us in this regard.

Worcester is no exception. Despite abundant evidence that academic skills readily transfer from one language to another, the power of formal Spanish-language instruction to address the significant achievement gap in education for Latino students in the Worcester Public Schools has not been publicly acknowledged, much less institutionalized. The artifacts in this exhibit include photographs of children graduating from a bilingual program at Clark Street School, a bilingual education course for Spanish-speaking students meeting in a corridor at Woodland Street Community School, and a protest organized by the Concilio de Padres or Hispanic Parent Advisory Council (HPAC) and other community organizations in the 1970s. (Narrative by Prof. Cynthia Stone, College of the Holy Cross)