Political Quotes

“I would like to take a little time, I suppose, to give a history lesson. Having been a history professor at one time, first of all, I want to point out that bilingual education began in the United States in 1839 and included States such as Ohio, Louisiana, and New Mexico, where they taught in several languages because of the diversity of the population. German, French, and Spanish were used for instruction. Then from 1880 to 1917 German instruction was used in Ohio, Minnesota, and Maryland as part of a bilingual education program. In 1908, Mr. Chairman, New York discovered that 13 percent of the 12-year-olds enrolled in New York public schools did not go on to high school. They were children of parents who were not born in the United States. However 32 percent of all other children whose parents were born here did go on to high school. Mr. Chairman, an individual could drop out of school back in that day and still get a job and still be very much a participant in our society. Unfortunately, or fortunately, at the present time the technology is so great that one positively must compete with a high school education, and it will not be too long until education beyond a high school education will be needed to be functionally literate in our country.”