Symposium: Bilingual Education for Puerto Ricans in New York City: From Hope to Compromise

In this article, Sandra Del Valle examines the struggle for bilingual education as a fight for civil rights in which lawyers and litigation have played a large role. By specifically looking at the role of Puerto Ricans in New York City in these struggles, she examines the fatal gap between two visions of bilingual education—the vision of the grassroots Puerto Rican community that saw bilingual education as educational enrichment, and the remedial model that was ultimately adopted and advanced by lawyers and other professionals in the courts. As Del Valle argues, national policymakers, federal courts, and advocacy organizations have raised the nation's consciousness on issues affecting language-minority students; however, these forces have also contributed to the compromised nature of bilingual education, making it especially vulnerable to attack. Therefore, the role between these entities—that is, education advocates, policymakers, and the courts—must be constructed differently and take its cues from students, parents, and local grassroots organizations.