One thing most Americans agree on is that the American public school system is in bad shape. Schools and teachers have become common targets for criticism--much of it justified--but while nearly everyone has opinions on this, most solutions offered are either simplistic or impractical.  

Although a great amount of hype was heaped on Waiting for Superman this past year, I was much more satisfied with  Speaking in Tongues. Both documentaries  criticize the current state of education in America, but Superman offers only a generalized (and widely known) slam of the system's weaknesses and rambles off course frequently. This is partly due to the fact that Superman's director is a non-educator who takes his audience on his voyage of discovery. Constructed far more tightly, Speaking in Tongues presents a working solution with its focused illustration of San Francisco's language immersion program. Its filmmakers have done their homework and offer a coherent overview that is based on sound linguistic research and practice.

Of course, my background can explain my preference. I taught high school English for over two decades on the Navajo-Hopi reservation and have a Masters degree in teaching English as a second language. That translates to a lot of hands on work with second language learners and a great deal of reading and coursework in linguistics. I've seen my share of films dealing with language education as well, so I can confidently vouch for the theorhetical and practical validity offered by filmmakers Marcia Jarmel and Ken Schneider.

Anyone expecting a wide-ranging exploration of the topic needs to look elsewhere, but Speaking in Tongues succinctly introduces sound linguistic concepts that are strongly supported by academic research. For opposing views, just attend any public school board meeting where bi-lingual or multi-cultural programs are on the agenda, and you're certain to see wide-ranging opinions across the spectrum. That's just the nature of American education--where parents and regular citizens all think they are experts in the field and know what works best for their children.

The documentary focuses on four students who have enrolled in San Francisco's language immersion program. African-American kindergartner Durell Laury, sixth grader Kelly Wong, and eighth grader Julian Enis are all taught primarily in Mandarin and fifth grader Jason Patino is in a Spanish immersion program. Immersion programs differ from most bi-lingual programs since students are taught subject matter courses (like mathematics) in Chinese or Spanish instead of having the language taught as a "language" course. Students split their time between these classes and other classes that use English.

Such a program would naturally be controversial across mainstream America--even among Spanish and Asian speaking populations. So strong is the notion that you MUST be proficient in English to succeed that reduction in English language instruction automatically ensures opposition. American has long "prided" itself in being mono-lingual, and this is behind the English-only laws that have popped up in 31 states.

The film uses Dr. Ling-chi Wang to authoritatively refute this notion. Increased globalization and security concerns make bi-lingualism a much more valued commodity. For such a change to take place in the American education system requires buy-in. Although the film doesn't cite details, I'd bet that the San Francisco language immersion program is voluntary. While European communities take multi-lingualism in stride, any American community can expect school board battles on this concept. So such programs can only be implemented with community cooperation--and that means families voluntarily opt for such a program.

As Dr. Wang states, the U.S. has a vast reservoir of language resources that have remained untapped. It's simply not logical to attempt to teach college students beginning courses in Mandarin, Cantonese, or Arabic. We should be doing this before the age of 13, as all the linguistic research indicates. Children are like sponges before puberty and will absorb whatever language surrounds them; we do them a disservice by exposing them to only one language.

Speaking in Tongues strongly presents the case for multi-language learning and inspires a positive solution to lackluster school system achievement. It deserves a much wider audience. I only hope to hear more clamor for language immersion programs to help cure educational woes than demands for more accountability through standardized testing. We've been down that road far too many times ... and that boring route leads backwards to the 19th century. Multi-lingualism and multi-culturalism is much more exciting and shows far greater promise--on the cutting edge for 21st century needs and preparing future generations for the world envisioned in Star Trek.

Note:

I attended elementary school in Quincy, Illinois during the 1950s. Like most Americans growing up that decade (hmmm... well, any decade over the past half century), I am mono-lingual. I didn't consciously choose to be an English-only speaker, but that's the only language I experienced daily during those formative years.

Had I grown up in France, I would have been fluent in 2 - 5 languages--and I never would have failed that French III class at the University of Illinois (after a 3 month hiatus from French II taken at the end of my freshman year). 

Looking back and knowing what I now know from studying linguistics, I wish I had grown up with a European approach to languages. They value and respect multi-lingualism there, and I can imagine being engaged during my primary grades with learning something NEW instead of being bored to death with idiotic Dick and Jane reading books that were inflicted on us.