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Civil Rights In Education

The Civil Rights movement, during the 1960s and 1970s, created many

changes for both American society and its schools. The transformations were

the result of such movements as Bilingual Education, women's' rights activity,

and the passing of the Public Law 94-142 legislation. The incorporation of these

new laws and ideas into society all came with their own consequences. Each of

them helped, in some way, to lessen the inequality of minority groups in America,

like students whose primary language was not English, women, and

handicapped children. They also faced opposition by certain groups, who did not

feel that their inclusion in American life was necessary. Those fighting for the

minorities, though, were steadfast in their efforts, and made many successful

attempts.

The Bilingual Education movement in America began in the late 1960s. It

was made to be an important issue due to the fact that many Spanish-speaking

children were attending schools that only included the English language in their

curriculum. This resulted in low academic achievement rates for the students.

Bilingual education programs were developed to try to resolve this dilemma in

the American schools. In these programs, teaching was given in both Spanish

and English. Some attempts were eventually made to set a standard for the

bilingual education and make it a nationally recognized idea.

The Bilingual Education Act, passed by Congress in 1968, made an

approach to legitimize the instruction of non-English speaking children (U & W,

317). It did not set any standards though, so how well the act was observed was

basically left up to whose arguments were stronger--the opposers or the

defenders. The Supreme Court popularized the issue in 1974, in the Lau vs.

Nichols case. This case involved "Chinese American children in San Francisco

who spoke little or no English" (ibid.). Those fighting for the children wanted

them to receive extra attention in teaching English....