Bilingual education in Texas with a focus on the federal district ruling by Judge Wm. Wayne Justice
Host Linda Fregoso speaks with various guests about the legal mandate for bilingual education and the problems such programs are facing in the early 1980s. Dr. Jose Cardenas of the Intercultural Development and Research Association discusses the class action lawsuit, Lau v. Nichols, which brought the issue of bilingual education to the Supreme Court. The court ruled it was unconstitutional to deny children education in their primary language. Cardenas also discusses some of the guidelines the Department of Education drew up to ensure compliance with the Supreme Court’s ruling. Fregoso then looks at the 1970 case U.S. v Texas, where the Department of Justice and the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund (MALDEF) successfully sued the state of Texas for failing to eliminate segregation in the schools. Norma Solis, a lawyer with MALDEF, describes MALDEF’s struggle to get the state to comply with the judge’s ruling, and, in 1981, the court ordered Texas to expand and enforce its bilingual programs. Texas Attorney General Mark White then explains why he will appeal the ruling. Tom Anderson, of the Texas Education Agency, also discusses the financial and logistical problems with expanding bilingual programs.
Several guests then discuss the problems within bilingual training programs. Recently, the UT-San Antonio dropped the requirement that bilingual teachers take Chicano culture courses. Walter Smith, a professor of bilingual education in San Antonio, explains that those courses are vital to eliminating the cultural biases that limit bilingual educators. Solis also suggests several possible solutions to the state’s alleged shortage of bilingual teachers and she points out that in recent years, Texas has not used all of the funds allocated for bilingual programs.
KEYWORDS
14th Amendment1965 Voting Rights Act
Alma Diaz
Bicultural Education
Bilingual Education
Chicano Culture
Children
Class Action Lawsuits
Constitution
Department of Education
Department of Justice
Discrimination
Education
Equal Protection Clause
Houston
Intercultural Development and Research Association (IDRA)
Jimmy Carter
Jose Angel Cardenas
Jose Montalvo
Language Discrimination
Lau Guidelines
Lau v. Nichols
Maintenance Approach to Bilingual Education
Mark White
Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund
Norma Hernandez
Norma Solis
Office of Civil Rights
Pedagogy
Reagan Administration
Segregation
Supreme Court Cases
Teachers
Texas Attorney General
Title VI
Tom Anderson
Tyler, Texas
United States vs. Texas
University of Texas El Paso
University of Texas San Antonio
Walter Smith
William Justice