Teaching Language to Students by Laura Estrada (La enseñanza de idiomas a estudiantes de Laura Estrada)
(Mensaje se repite en Español)
(For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post)
Language has often been a political issue in the United States whenever there have been large waves of immigration. As an antidote for this national xenophobia, speaking a different language has been discouraged through social intimidation, violence, and attempts to establish English as the official language, or simple refusal of services to those that don't speak English. In the not to distant past, non-English speaking students were forced to abandon their native language or were subjected to punishment in school for speaking it.