North of the border

National Review, Oct 12, 1998 by Jorge Amselle, Stephen Moore

America gets some help in formulating its education policy--from the Mexican government.

WHEN California voters passed Proposition 227 this June--effectively ending bilingual education in their state--they were all too aware of the stiff opposition the measure faced from liberal ethnic organizations and other members of the professional grievance lobby. What they may not have realized is that a foreign government would try to undermine the initiative once they passed it. Indeed, through its 42 consular offices and 23 cultural institutes in the United States--the most extensive presence here that any foreign country maintains--Mexico directly influences U.S. education policy at every level of government, making the assimilation of Hispanics in the United States that much more difficult.

The U.S. Department of Education actively welcomes the intervention of the Mexican government in American schools. As the Mexican Secretariat of Foreign Affairs regularly boasts, it provides, among other things, teacher-exchange programs and free instructional materials in support of bilingual education in the United States. Roughly three hundred thousand Mexican textbooks--gifts from the Mexican government--are used in American schools today.

Consider just one example. Earlier this year, the government of Mexico was a "Gold Sponsor" (meaning that it had donated $10,000) of the National Association for Bilingual Education conference in Dallas. (The U.S. Department of Education and its Office for Bilingual Education also had a strong presence at the conference.) NABE's organizers disdain immersion programs to help children learn English quickly, and the conference was part of an organizing effort in its extensive lobbying campaign against Proposition 227. Officials at NABE declined to reveal the amount of money they receive from the Mexican government directly every year, but it surely is substantial; in 1997 NABE gave Mexico its Presidential Award in appreciation for its support of the organization's efforts.

At the conference, the Mexican government set up ten booths to promote the Programa para las Comunidades Mexicanas en el Extranjero, or Program for the Mexican Communities Abroad. "This program seeks to preserve the roots of Mexican origin, love and respect for Mexican culture," explains Arturo Chavarria, deputy consul for the Mexican Embassy in Washington, D.C., "and has developed some projects regarding bilingual education starting from the acknowledgment that the full power of Spanish establishes a very important background, and is the principal instrument in the learning of a second language. Through educational actions the PCME has focused on the demands of the community to increase the power of Spanish, [and] to support bilingual education."

When I asked Mr. Chavarria how much money Mexico spends on this program, he denied having any budget whatsoever. And other Mexican officials I contacted either denied having any knowledge of the program or failed to return telephone calls. Promotional materials from PCME itself, however, declare that Mexico's Department of Foreign Relations "coordinates its activity with 9 federal departments, 23 state governments, hundreds of municipal seats, and dozens of public and private organizations in Mexico and the United States."

INSTRUCTIONAL advice from the Mexican government does not emphasize the academic basics so much as the cultural identity of Hispanics. The Mexican Consulate General in Austin, Texas--where some twenty schools have received Mexican textbooks--tells local schools how best to educate Hispanic students. Its webpage (www.onr.com/consulmx) claims that "Mexican students learn [sic] and thrive in an environment of cooperation rather than in one of competition. They do not value, to the extent that Americans do, the seal of self-sufficiency." The webpage also advises schools on other assets of Hispanic children and claims that "Deeply imbedded in the Indian legacy of Mestizo is the conviction that human beings are given life in order to be more than to do."

However, there is one thing that Hispanic students must do: learn Spanish. A flier distributed by the PCME to promote teacher-exchange programs says, "We seek to support bilingual professors in improving their Spanish skills, increasing their knowledge of Mexican history and culture, as well as increasing their understanding of the special situation of Mexican and Mexican-American children and youth that have been relocated to the United States." The PCME and the U.S. Department of Education sponsor trips to Mexico for Hispanic-American teachers to learn Spanish. Of the ten Mexican universities providing these programs for American teachers, nine of them, judging by in their promotional materials, seek out only Hispanic Americans.

In a booklet published jointly by the U.S. and Mexican Departments of Education, Miguel Limon Rojas, Secretary of the Mexican Ministry of Education, and Richard Riley, U.S. Secretary of Education, declare that "Mexico and the United States are multicultural societies." It goes on to say that American educators need "a clearer vision of our [Mexican] culture as well as firmer ground to act as agents of change. This is an effort that should gain force in the coming years, with the joint capacities of those interested in narrowing the gap between our two countries."