Why Equity Matters in a "Turn White and Speak English" Political Climate: Educational Trajectories of Students Who Are Learning the English Language

• In Event: Inclusive Practices and Social Justice Leadership for Special Populations in Urban Settings

Abstract

This paper explores historical developments and recent immigration as well as education policies motivating current mainstream perceptions of the nation’s immigrants. Furthermore, this paper examines a stagnation of progress in the upward social mobility of this population, more specifically, in the sector of public education. While discussing policy developments, this chapter highlights several key facets relating to direct effects on language minority students and the impacts these policies have on them. Participants are invited to explore who truly defines and represents the “public” in public education and how these perceptions impact educational trajectories of those students who are language minority and English language learners (ELL). This paper concludes with a discussion of emerging themes of what it means to be an immigrant student learning the English language while living in “Turn White and Speak English” political climate. In doing so the author invites examination of the extent to which the current landscape of the public education system in the United States fulfills the equity goals of its premise, i.e., serving as “the great equalizer” in our society, for the fastest growing segment of student population in the nation.

Author

• Irina S. Okhremtchouk, Arizona State University