Assimilation Versus Multiculturalism: Bilingual Education and the Latino Challenge

Abstract

This article analyzes the public rhetoric during the November 2002 vote over bilingual education in Colorado and Massachusetts. We argue that the neoassimilationist views displayed in both states represent a new step in the evolution of assimilation theory and ideology—one that has adapted to both the current immigrant environment and to multicultural criticism. In Colorado, where the bill English for the Children failed to pass, the print media reveals a far greater tendency toward assimilation; in Massachusetts, multicultural values are used far more often as a defense for bilingual education programs, even though the bill overwhelmingly passed.