English Only: The Creation and Maintenance of an Academic Underclass

Abstract

In this article, I address the present-day political and pedagogical implications of the imposition of one year of English only immersion on limited English proficient (LEP) students. The article also presents a case study of an inner-city community in Massachusetts during the early years—1968–1974—of transition from English only to bilingual education. The case study highlights the often racist and ethnocentric ideological perspectives that guided the formation of educational structures and pedagogical practices for LEP students historically. I argue that the return to English only reopens a pedagogical space that harbors little hope for the education of linguistic-minority students and explicitly reinstates the harmful ideological perspectives long kept in check through legislative decree.