John Doolittle: “I support the Roth amendment. I think it is unfortunate that it is being portrayed as somehow anti-Hispanic or…”

“I support the Roth amendment. I think it is unfortunate that it is being portrayed as somehow anti-Hispanic or anti-immigrant. It is nothing of the kind. Indeed, the evidence on this issue seems to suggest that bilingual education has failed to properly teach children English. And when we have such scarce resources, we as a Government ought to be doing those things that work. No other country in the world that I am aware of uses this type of a bilingual education program to teach children the national language. Every other country uses bilingual education to support minority language maintenance. What needs to occur, I think, is to recognize the data available on this subject. Thomas Sowell in his book 'Inside American Education' cited numerous surveys proving that the great majority of Hispanic parents--more than three-fourths of Mexican-American parents and more than four-fifths of Cuban-American parents--are opposed to the teaching of Spanish in the schools at the expense of English. After all, these are the families who want their children to succeed in the U.S.A. If we want to help these children, which I believe is the motive of all of us here, then we ought to do those things that encourage their learning English the best. I think that this bilingual education program is one that is ineffective and should be discontinued. I think the Roth amendment is a step in the right direction.”