Proposition 227

The critics dismiss it as confusion over speech fluency and academic fluency in English. They claim that, "academic fluency in a second language requires 5 to 7 years" instruction." Therefore, a year of special education is inadequate for preparing LEP children for English language classrooms. Second example is that only 6.5 percent of the students who are re-classified as fluent in English come from a group of students, only a third of whom are in bilingual programs and most of whom are in the kind of English-only programs mandated by Proposition 227. Hence, concluding bilingual education as a failure is shortcoming. In fact, many bilingual programs work better than other programs in both English acquisition and core subjects . Since, Proposition 227 mandates a single, untested program for all school districts, it fails to address the quality of instruction in core subjects like science and math. Other critics of proposition include the proponents of bilingual education. They claim that benefits of bilingual education include appreciation for cultures. Because language is most fundamental part of any culture, allowing bilingual education is allowing "the field in which language meets language, culture meets culture, values meet values." Hence, bilingual education has its own educational merits rather than just assisting education in other subjects. Some proponents take a step further and claim that denying bilingual education is discrimination against minority students. First, the minority students are denied of the "fundamental tools for reflection, critical thinking, and social interaction." Second, denying bilingual education is an act of affirming white supremacy and English supremacy. Declaring English as the valid language and pointing to critical aspect of knowing English as a requirement for success are two instances where English is pushed as the supreme language. The critics claim that the US is a nation built upon immigration and diversity of races makes it impossible to embrace "so-called "common culture" and "common language.