German-American and Vietnamese-American bilingual education : factors of success and decline

Abstract

A current issue in education is bilingual-bicultural education. Controversy exists at all levels of schooling from the Department of Education to individual state boards of education and local school boards. Literature abounds with authors expounding the merits of bilingual-bicultural programs or debating what should be the goals of this area of public education for ethnic Americans. Bilingual-bicultural education, however, is not new to America. German-Americans during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were able to establish in many public school systems throughout the United States their own bilingual-bicultural education programs. Indeed, as early as 1870 Ohio had on its books laws guaranteeing the instruction in German of any or all subjects taught in schools. The impact of the German-Americans and their bilingual-bicultural programs had was important and left many contributions to the then developing American public education institution. German-Americans were aided in many ways in the founding of and maintenance of bilingual-bicultural programs. Factors influencing these program include the nature, in terms of number and settlements, of German immigration, the time during which German immigration occurred, the American Civil War, the motives and goals the German-Americans had for public education and the dominant American culture's openness and/or tolerance of those motives and goals. War and intolerance ended the German-American achievements quickly and at times violently. By the end of World War I and the onset of the 1920s, very little remained of Deutschtum, the cultural-community conception, upon which were founded the German-American efforts. The effects of this would be, ten to twenty years later, the extreme difficulty of refugee immigrants fleeing Nazi German in settling and adjusting to American life. Indeed so much difficulty that some would choose to return to German. The virtual disappearance of the German-American bilingual-bicultural experience today has bearing on one more recent immigrant groups, the Vietnamese-Americans. Like German immigrants of a hundred years previous, the Vietnamese-Americans bring with them traditionally held values toward education, community life and hopes for a new life in a new land. However, the factors which aided the German-Americans in their bilingual-bicultural efforts are much weaker or entirely absent from the Vietnamese experience. On the other hand the factors which led to the decline of the German-American efforts are all too present for the Vietnamese-Americans. The Vietnamese-American bilingual-bicultural experience in light of the German-American one raises the question of our commitment to bilingual-bicultural education and the goals and attitudes on the part of society toward the education of ethnic Americans. The fact that at least half of the Vietnamese-Americans are school age or under further complicates the matter. The acceptance of or at least tolerance on the part of the dominant culture toward bilingual-bicultural education, as exemplified by the nineteenth century German-American experiences, led to growth and harmony for both the ethnic group and the public schools. Later intolerance and lack of support led to frustration and at times hardships for German-Americans and lost opportunities for Americans overall. The decision we make and the factors we choose to replicate with the Vietnamese-Americans with respect to bilingual-bicultural education will affect the future of all.