Language, Culture, and Power: Bilingual Families and the Struggle for Quality Education

Decades of educational research have documented the best practices and optimal educational experiences for language-minority children. Yet, the current conservative climate in our nation openly threatens bilingual education programs in schools and communities.

Over a nine-year period, the author collected data from bilingual families residing in "Steel Town" Pennsylvania regarding their educational experiences. In January 1993 the local school board and school superintendent decided to eliminate its nationally recognized, twenty-year-old bilingual education program. For the first time in the history of this community, the bilingual families organized themselves to speak out on the importance of these programs to their lives. The political struggle that ensued during the bilingual controversy in Steel Town led to asymmetrical power relations. The voices of the bilingual community leaders, bilingual educators, and, more important, the bilingual children, were disregarded by the decision makers.