Learning English in Wisconsin

In a remarkable article—especially since it was pub-lished in Madison’s left-leaning alternative weekly Isthmus—two Verona Area High School students this past fall managed to point out the flaws in Wisconsin’s tradition- al bilingual programs for non-English speak-ing students. That the students, Npib Thao, a Hmong, and Gloria Gonzales, a Latina, accomplished this task in a few hundred words is all the more noteworthy, given that the usual “experts” in the field require thou-sands of words (mostly in obtuse education- speak jargon) to discuss the same issue....

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