SFUSD Bilingual Education Lau vs Nichols SFGTV San Francisco

Third segment of "Celebrate Heritage, Celebrate Unity." This is the history of how bilingual education programs developed in the San Francisco Unified School District. The pivotal case went to the US Supreme Court and established precedent for California and the rest of the United States. Produced by Marisa Louie and Rich Bartlebaugh.

This program was an Honorable Mention at the 2008 NATOA Government Programming Awards.

As graduates of the first ethnic studies

classes return to work in their

communities they found cultural training

and sensitivity lacking in public

schools. Immigrant students arriving

through the Immigration Act of 1965 were

often expected to quickly assimilate and

learn in English only classrooms.

Educators lawyers and activists trained

during the third world student strike

wanted to ensure that these students

would be taught to value their cultural

heritage and their primary languages. The

legal struggle for bilingual education

began in the schools of San Francisco's

Chinatown. And would culminate in the US

Supreme Court in 1974. If we look at the

whole history of bilingual education or

education to serve the English learning

in general. And I think that you not yet

you know we could not talk about that

without mentioning about the law case

met back in 1974 which you know was

named the Lau v. Nichols.

They felt you know that say need you

know for this group of the youngster who

come to this country with a very limited

English proficiency and they were not

getting the full benefit of the

educational system. If you're not the

cause you are not being taught in the

in their language that they understand.

There are three goals in bilingual

education programs. To improve students

English proficiency so they may be able

to eventually learn in English. To

continue teaching core curriculum in

students primary languages. And to

maintain students cultural identity. I

think that the key question is that for

a student who coming from a foreign

country with a low level of English

proficiency and how are you going to

help these kids be able to take the

challenge and being successful in the

school. And just take one as an example, a

student coming from China and who may be

at that high school level and then he is

got his educational experience from

China but only in Chinese. And now he's

in this a new country and he has to

challenge in a high school core
curriculum or

in English. And is a huge challenge

right there. Because of the Immigration

Act of 1965 San Francisco schools

experienced a sharp increase in the

number of immigration students in the late

1960s. These students struggled in an

english-only environment feeling

alienated from their teachers and

classmates. Teachers were ill-equipped to

teach these classes and were similarly

frustrated. UC Berkeley graduate student

Lin Chi Wang and Chinatown attorney

Edward Steinman heard the complaints of

parents and teachers. Though San

Francisco unified school district

administrators realized that students

were not learning properly they felt

they did not have adequate resources nor

did they have the responsibility to

teach the students English.

In 1970 Steinman filed the class-action

lawsuit against the school

administration. Kinney Kimmon Lau a

first grader at Jean Parker Elementary

School in Chinatown was the first named

plaintiff. Board of Education president
Peter Nichols

was first named as defendant. After

repeated appeals Lau versus Nichols was

heard at the US Supreme Court on

December 10 1973. The court ruled in

favor of the students stating that there

is no equality of treatment merely by

providing students with the same

facilities... for students who do not

understand English are effectively

foreclosed from any meaningful education.

With the help of groups such as Chinese

for affirmative action and the

association of Chinese teachers, teachers

were trained in bilingual education. And

programs began in schools across San

Francisco. In the 30 years since the Lau

decision bilingual education programs

continue to be controversial.

Detractors many of whom are educators

believe that students will function

better in mainstream classrooms. At times

bilingual education has been attacked by

special interests who are trying to make

a biased point about immigration policy.

In 1998 you know that's saying and not a

turn you know of a you know in the

legislations and the preposition you

know 227 passed in California you know

which only to really redefine you know

the program requirements you know for

English learners. In that proposition and

they only want to use in English as the

only medium for instruction you know for

the immigrant you know students. And San

Francisco is a very unique place you

know regardless of the proposition

227 and we still will be ab- you will

still be able until now to offer

bilingual education. Because our district

is choose to exercise our right you know
under the federal law

of the Lau consent decree. And that's why

we be able to provide all these

bilingual programs you know currently

in the in the district. (Chinese being
spoken in classroom.)

Today the SF USD has 15,000 students who

speak one of 72 languages other than

English. The school district offers heavy

two-way immersion programs in Cantonese

Spanish Mandarin and Korean.The program

continues to evolve now focusing on

language enrichment programs. Groups such

as the API education coalition still

stress the need for language access for

more recent waves of immigrants. Such as

Southeast Asians and Pacific Islanders.

According to the research it takes a

seven year for student to be you know

that English proficiency. And we do not

warn you know the students education

disrupted because of the language

proficiency. And you know so is in our

educational system is our core is a

responsibility to make sure that that

their linguistic needs are being met. So

the educational process will not be

interrupted. The Lau decision has

impacted schools across the country. For

more than the 1,800 Chinese American

children initially considered in 1973.

The decision has also been cited in many

language access cases including voter

information and ballot translation.

Thanks to the courageous unity of those

who pursued the Lau case in the 1970s

students can successfully be

multilingual and multicultural. To learn

more about the school districts

bilingual programs visit their website.

To learn about bilingual education

programs all across California visit
bilingualeducation.org.