Ed. Week post (catch up #1)

In the December 1st issue of Ed. Week, there was an article about how Chicago has put into place the “nation’s first state mandate for providing bilingual education to preschoolers”. The new rule states that if there are at least 20 students who speak the same language, then the preschool center must offer bilingual education and that ALL lead teachers have to have an ESOL endorsement. So my thoughts are, really? HAVE to? I believe, and maybe as I go through this program I may change my mind, that having your children learn a second language, while valuable, should be a personal choice. Furthermore, this means that preschool teachers will have to spend more money on their education which some may not be able to do or want to do. I guess this article boils down, for me, to administrations/governments TELLING me what I have to do and I am kinda a rebel that way…this should be a personal choice for the preschools and the teachers. I just want to reiterate that I do think learning a second language is valuable, it should just be a choice.