Generations of Wokeness

Rosalie Pedalino Porter rose to prominence by taking a stand in the bilingual-education wars of the 1980s and 1990s. Drawing on her academic expertise, her experience developing a Newton, Massachusetts, public school program for English learners, and her personal history as an Italian immigrant, Porter forcefully argued against segregating immigrant kids and instructing them in their native language until they became fluent in English. Her efforts included writing a 1990 book, Forked Tongue, and co-running the English for the Children campaign in Massachusetts in the early 2000s—which leveraged the state’s referendum system and support from Governor Mitt Romney to push schools toward English immersion.

But battles over race, language, and culture rarely stay won in this country. In Massachusetts, bilingual education returned in 2017, when the elected branches of government wiped out what remained of the law created by ballot initiative. California, similarly, made it far more difficult for schools to offer bilingual education in a 1998 referendum, but in 2016, voters themselves undid the change. Americans can keep fighting over the same thing for decades, but in this case the second wave of changes made a much smaller splash. How quickly immigrants learn English is less of a cultural flashpoint today.

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