An initiative that would effectively shut down bilingual education programs in California has spurred a sometimes hostile debate over the question of whether it will benefit Hispanic students more than white. However, PNS associate editor Andres Tapia, recounting his own experience in a similar situation, finds that such a program is a distinct winner for all concerned. PNS associate editor Andres Tapia, a contributing editor of Christianity Today, is a Chicago-based writer.

CHICAGO -- Californians wrestling over whether or not to keep bilingual education might take heart from the story of how parents resolved a similar conflict that engulfed two suburbs north of Chicago -- Highland Park, mostly white and Jewish, and Highwood, largely Latino.

Just over two years ago my wife and I, partners in an ethnically mixed marriage, were getting ready to enroll our only daughter, Marisela, in kindergarten. The mountain of paper we got as first-time public school parents included notice of a proposed new K-8 dual language immersion program.

As someone from Peru who wants his daughter to grow up bilingual and bicultural, I have spoken to Marisela exclusively in Spanish since she was born, while my wife Lori speaks to her only in English. The prospect of Marisela having formal instruction in both languages really excited us. So I went to the first informational meeting -- and walked into a cauldron of controversy.

That meeting included an inspiring presentation by the principal of Chicago's Interamerican School, which has been doing this for over 20 years (and where 700 families apply for 70 kindergarten slots). The premise is simple: classrooms are evenly divided between English and Spanish speakers. The second language is not taught as a language but rather in the context of learning the school curriculum -- 80 percent of the instruction in kindergarten and first grade in Spanish, dropping by 10 percent each year until it reaches 50/50 parity with English.

The vehement opposition that greeted this presentation caught me off guard. What looked to me like a great opportunity -- a program which would give children the ability to read, write and speak fluently in two languages by eighth grade -- evoked panic from non-Hispanic parents, as if this would open the floodgates to an alien culture and leave them marooned.

"Do you want your children studying with their children -- can you imagine the habits they will pick up?" a white mom warned another white parent who'd come to enroll her child.

"Why should our taxes be paying for their education?"

"Those Spanish kids are never going to learn English and English-speaking kids are going to learn it poorly."

Adding to these fears was the fact that the two school districts were being consolidated to ease overcrowding in Highwood schools, and Highland Park parents were convinced this would drain resources from their property tax rich district.

Those of us who favored the program argued that it was a way for monolingual kids to acquire a second language and enhance their educational and career opportunities in the decades ahead. In less than ten years, we pointed out, the U.S. will become the third largest Spanish speaking country in the world.

Moreover, learning two languages at an early age, as I knew from my own research, not only makes it easier to learn the language, but increases children's cognitive powers generally -- learning early on that there is more than one way to refer to something like a chair is a powerful concept that translates into understanding that there is more than one way at looking at anything.

I remember one night when we were making this case before the board of education, I saw eyebrows go up when I announced, "You've heard me say all this in English, but you probably don't realize English is not my mother tongue." I was living proof of the advantages of bilingual education.

The program won unanimous approval that night. Today, two and a half years later, Spanish speaking first graders answer the phone in English, English speaking kids understand nearly anything said to them in Spanish, our daughter reads and writes in both languages.

And there is much talk about how the dual language classes enrich the entire school community. Third grade children are checking out both English and Spanish versions of the same book to try to learn Spanish on their own. A fifth grade class does reports on Latin American countries by interviewing the dual language Latino parents about their countries of origin. And now that it is clear the dual language approach is an enrichment rather than a remedial program, even some original opponents have enrolled their children.

It's true Latinos are changing this country -- but in this experiment with bilingualism, we've shown that both Latinos and non-Latinos have much to gain.