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Analysis of a Bilingual Program Beliefs Through the Ideas of Dewey and Whitehead

Giovanni Nanni (gnannibr@gmail.com)

We will be considering a program that is in place in the school system of a small town located in the midst of New England. Because of its friendly environment, this town is a nest and a refuge for all the different kinds of people and races that live there, regarding to their origins, culture, and customs. Based on this scenario, the community school system is running a program for the children of these broad backgrounds and origins. This is our subject matter. The program in evidence is the Spanish Bilingual Program. This program, besides the fact that it is originally directed to the Spanish speaking community in the town, also receives and instructs the children that come from another Latin country, Brazil. There are some reasons why this is happening. The school is not forgetting the fact that the Brazilian children speak Portuguese, however, there are not enough students that only speak Portuguese to support the creation of a program aimed specifically to this community. Because of this legal impediment, there were several issues that were in consideration by the time that the decision was made. The decision was made based upon the points that both languages share. The starting common point was the structural similarities. Both languages are based on

the same roots, the Latin, that make them, grammatically speaking, very similar and easy for the Brazilian children to understand and comprehend the Spanish classes. Another variable that was looked upon, was the spoken language and the sound of it, respecting the differences of pronunciation, which exist even inside of the same country, according to the regions that the language is spoken. In this case again, the languages are related. Brazilians are, in general, very comfortable with the Spanish being spoken to them on a regular basis. Another reason that was considered in order to make that decision even more logical, was that of the cultural similarities. Because the Spanish influence is very strong and a reality in the Brazilian culture, the adaptation in the Spanish Bilingual Program setting, is not an issue to the Brazilian parents that have their children registered in this School System especially because several of them are Spanish descendants, and they are familiar with the social and cultural structure of the Spanish people. This information is given in order to help the reader understand the complex environment that exists in the program, and all the implications that these complexities cause upon the students and staff. Never the less, such an environment does not have special treatment, or different rules that frame all the work that must be done. Nor does it give space to any kind of special arrangements in the curriculum that the students have to cover. In fact, the school system did a good job in accommodating all the non-English speaking students, to the rules that guide the schoolwork. All the goals that were set

to meet the needs of the American students were and are applied to the foreign students as well. The school is very straightforward about the goals that the students should achieve in order to be a competent and successful person, leading the individual to become an important piece in the mechanics of the community. These goals are explicitly expressed in a published document that can be found in the school office. They are divided in areas of focus, and each area is subdivided in well-explained topics. These areas are: Speaking (being able to communicate ideas and information coherently in a variety of circumstances; Listening (being able to listen actively, critically, and responsibly); Reading (being able to read actively and critically for a variety of purposes); Writing (being able to write using standard English for a variety of purposes and audiences); Problem-solving process (being able to employ and asses the problemsolving process); and Technology (using technology to find, organize, and communicate information). These goals are set to all the students in general. For those registered in the bilingual program, the staff gives a special effort and attention in order to foster a positive attitude in the students, considering that they will have an extra barrier to overcome, the language barrier.

In order to accomplish these goals, the school has been working with gaps and issues that have been depriving the full achievement of all the expectations set upon the students and their future as members of the community. Some of them are lack of publications and workbooks that are in the same level of the books used by the students in the regular program. Another concern is the leveling work, meaning, the activities that allow the students that come to the system, after the beginning of the school year or with a low knowledge and understanding of the English language, to get acquainted with it in order to proceed the studies following the curriculum. Physical space for activities directed to the non-speakers is also a subject that has been worked on. Especially when the issue is lab activity. In this case, the school is not fully prepared to have a Bilingual lab designed to provide full interaction between the student and the subject of study in their first language. These, among other minor issues that inevitably occur in such an intricate educational environment, are nonetheless barriers, but incentives to keep working in order to overcome them. The staff is aware of those problems. As committed professionals, the teachers spend a great deal of effort to surpass the deficiencies in order to offer the students the best education. This staff also brings different backgrounds to the program however, these differences are well worked, and the program takes the advantage of this in order to enlighten the students school experience. The teachers have a good relationship with the students, in general, and with their families as well. This is very profitable to the students because they can relate themselves to the teachers not only as

knowledge givers but also as counselors and personal friends. This level of relationship improves the knowledge acquisition and the attitude towards the second language learning. The program framework has a clear position about the role of the teacher. The teacher, in this program, is the primary source of learning and knowledge transmission to the students along with the books and resources that are available to them. It is also a teachers responsibility to link the curriculum and the contents of each subject that will be covered with the learning of a new language. This is not an easy task. However, according to the statements made above, the level of commitment with the students and their families, provide the moral support and incentive that the educators need to achieve the goals. Of course the student participation and commitment, is an indispensable part of the learning process. Unfortunately, in general, all the students that are registered in the program are going through a turbulent time in their lives. Usually when they start in the school, just after a traumatic moving from their countries, the students are confused and feel displaced. Everything that they know as customs and culture, now clash with a different one. Their identity is now shaken, and more than ever, they need the support that the school tries to give them. After a brief time of adaptation, most of them are ready to take control of their academic life. Much of this quick adaptation is due to the classroom setting. Despite the fact that, as said before, they do not have a dedicated lab; they do have a classroom that is exclusively for their use. This classroom is filled with native motives, such as native national flags, posters containing pictures of well-known

people from their native country, charts featuring everyday words and their translation in English, several books in their native language discussing actual themes portraying their culture and more. The impression that we have from them is that they feel safe in the classroom, and they feel like it is a comfortable and warm big cradle. Seeing the happiness in their faces is a very rewarding picture. After this brief description of the program, we ought to move to the next step, which is to compare the educational beliefs with the philosophers studied. Based upon the observations and the conversation with the staff involved in this program, we noticed that, it mainly tries to follow the American educational tradition adding to it some external and foreign influences. This is not a difficult thing to understand, considering that we are observing a Bilingual Education Program. The program relates to many philosophers and thinkers, because various practices that take place in it have its foundations in many different sources. However, we are going to compare the programs beliefs to the ideas of John Dewey and Alfred North Whitehead. The major concern we observed is that the program focuses on is the development of the child in a way that this individual will be an addition to society as a whole. Making citizens not dwellers, thinking beings not mindless brains, individuals that will be able to shape themselves according to the wide range of the situations that they will face. A human being full of strong ideas and solid knowledge of the surroundings is the program motto. Whitehead (1997[1929]) maintains that:

Education with inert ideas is not only useless: it is, above all things, harmful Corruptio optimi, pessima. Except at rare intervals of intellectual ferment, education in the past has been radically infected with inert ideas. (p. 262). Dewey (1992[1897]) also attests that the individual who is to be educated is a social individual and that society is an organic union of individuals. If we eliminate the social factor from the child we are left only with an abstraction; if we eliminate the individual factor from society, we are left only with an inert and lifeless mass. (pp. 363-369) Another point that is very important to the personnel that is involved in the program resides in the fact that they use all the cultural and racial background brought in by the students. Dewey (1992[1897]) touches this point when he attests that all education proceeds by the participation of the individual in the social consciousness of the race and the only way to make the child conscious of his social heritage is to enable him to perform those fundamental types of activity which make civilization what is (pp. 363-369). Keeping the students cultural roots is a very important issue while that they instill and improve their knowledge. In the conditions of the modern life the rule is absolute, the race which does not value trained intelligence is doomed. (Whitehead, 1997[1929], p. 267). Social adjustment is a priority in the program. This follows along with Deweys (1992[1897]) idea when he attests that the teacher is not in the school to impose certain ideas or to form certain habits in the child, but is there as a member of the community to select the influences which shall affect the child and to assist him in properly responding to these influences. (pp. 363-369).

It is also a concern to the teachers and program direction to make a connection between the subjects and its applications in the real life. Dewey sustain that by saying that the school life should be presented as real and vital as the children have in their homes, neighborhood, or on the playground. Whitehead also implies the practical side of the teachings, especially when the focus is on the subject instead of the whole picture as he says that the solution is to eradicate the fatal disconnection of subjects which kills the vitality of our modern curriculum. (Whitehead, 1997[1929], p. 265). Because of the nature of this program, the social aspect plays a major role in the daily activities of the classroom. However, the widening of the knowledge is also an important factor in the program setting. The staff works in order to maintain the cultural and social background at the same time that the students have the opportunity to be exposed to their new social environment. This connection is the biggest struggle especially when the staff needs the students interest in order to expand and broaden their knowledge boundaries in such a diverse classroom atmosphere. Whitehead (1997[1929]) is explicit when he fires: There can be no mental development without interest. Interest is the sine qua non for attention and apprehension (p. 268). The teachers see the students interests and commitment as the signs and symptoms of growing power (Dewey, 1992[1897], pp. 363 -369) Finally, it is very clear to the teachers of the program, their role in the students lives. Their part in the students school life is more than just knowledge givers. They believe that they are part of a life transformation process that occurs everyday in their classroom. Dewey (1992[1897]) awards this attitude saying:

I believe that the teacher is engaged, not simply in the training of individuals, but in the formation of the proper social life. I believe that every teacher should realize the dignity of his calling; that he is a social servant set apart for the maintenance of proper social order and the securing of the right social growth. I believe that in this way the teacher is the prophet of the true God and the usherer in of the true kingdom of God. (pp. 363-369). They are proud of their commission and their part in the childrens lives.

References:

Dewey, J. (1992[1987]). My Pedagogic Creed. In K. Ryan and J. Cooper (Eds), Kaleidoscope: Readings in education (6th ed.,) (pp 363-369) Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Dewey, J. (1997[1912]). The child and the curriculum. In S. Cahn, (Ed.). Classical and contemporary readings in the philosophy of education (pp 276-288). New York: McGraw Hill.

Whitehead, A. (1997[1949]). The aims of education. In S. Cahn, (Ed.) Classic and Contemporary Readings in the Philosophy of Education. New York: McGraw Hill.