Product Description

Despite controversies over current educational practices, Texas boasts a rich and vibrant bilingual tradition-and not just for Spanish-English instruction, but for Czech, German, Polish, and Dutch as well. Over the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Texas educational policymakers embraced, ignored, rejected, outlawed, then once again embraced this tradition.

In The Strange Career of Bilingual Education in Texas, 1836-1981, Carlos Kevin Blanton traces the educational policies and their underlying rationales, from Stephen F. Austin's proposal in the 1830s to "Mexicanize" Anglo children by teaching them Spanish along with English and French, through the 1981 passage of the most encompassing bilingual education law in the state's history. Drawing on primary materials, Blanton presents the Texas experience in light of national trends and movements, such as Progressive Education, the Americanization Movement, and the Good Neighbor Movement.

By tracing the many changes that eventually led to the re-establishment of bilingual education in its modern form in the 1960s and the 1981 passage of a landmark state law, Blanton reconnects Texas with its bilingual past.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1985170 in Books
• Published on: 2004-01-21
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 216 pages

Review
". . . a masterful work." -- Arnoldo De Leon, Angelo State University

". . . brilliant . . ." -- Angela Valenzuela, University of Texas-Austin

"excellent book." -- Review of Texas Books, Spring 2006

Review
"A masterful work. The author's writing style is superb. This one is a trailblazer and will be useful for anyone with an interest in Mexican American education, history, and sociology."--Arnoldo De Leon, Angelo State University (Arnoldo De Leon, Angelo State University )

About the Author
CARLOS KEVIN BLANTON is an assistant professor of history at Texas A&M University in College Station.