School District Struggles With Arkansas’ ‘English-Only’ Law

Since 1987, the state of Arkansas has legally obliged all school districts to teach only in English. This “English-Only” mandate was part of a larger movement in the 1980s that saw Mississippi, North Dakota, and North and South Carolina enact their own English laws that same year.

Today, schools throughout Arkansas struggle with incoming students who do not speak English as their primary language.

“This one just got here in March,” Carlnis Jerry, a community liaison with the Springdale school district, said of a new student at the Parson Hills Elementary School, reports PRI. Jerry is from the Marshall Islands, where the native language is Marshallese.

Jerry is one of 10 full-time community liaisons that helps Marshallese immigrant students adjust to life in American schools, and helps interpret both English and American customs to students who may not yet understand.

“These kids are migrants, I mean, fresh off the boat, and they have no clue what’s going on,” Paul Lokebol, a community liaison at Helen Tyson Middle School, also in the Springdale school district, said. “From [the] time I walked in until now, I’ve seen a tremendous change in the lives of the students. I’m not talking about academic-wise, but also behavior-wise.”

“I know what it’s like, I’ve been there,” Anita Tomeing, a fellow community liaison and Marshall Islands immigrant said. “I’d write notes to my parents and tears would smear the ink.”

“Students need to see themselves in the school in order to excel academically,” Rachel Hazelhurst, a language specialist at Camino Nuevo Charter Academy in Los Angeles, California, said. California also requires schools to teach only in English, yet charter schools are exempt, notes The Atlantic. “If there’s a disconnect between students’ home identities … and what’s promoted by the school, students are more likely to disconnect, disinvest, and experience educational failure. …[When] children lose their home language skills, we as educators have a serious problem … fractured communities are created when families can no longer [talk] on a deep level about issues that matter.” 

“Cultural knowledge and pride are important in all children’s cognitive and social development,” Teresa McCarty, an education and anthropology professor at UCLA, said. She added that self-esteem and self-efficacy are “key factors long known to support academic engagement and success in school and life.”

“We want these young kids to be successful in school but, of course, we also want them to stay rooted — know their language, culture and heritage,” Benetick Maddison, founder of the Marshallese college group Manit Club, said, reports PRI. “Staying rooted will be of huge benefit for them later in the future. But in order for anyone to know their culture and heritage, they must know the language first.”

Sources: PRI, The Atlantic / Photo Credit: Benetick Maddison via PRI