Putting Learning Into Practice: Course Studies Hispanic Education

Seven students gather on a Tuesday night in the House CC commons room, sitting in a misshapen ring of striped brown-green couches, shoes and jackets and bookbags strewn around the green carpet.

The setting is informal, but the discussion is intense as the students discuss their research on one of the most important questions in education: Bilingualism and Hispanic education policy.

The students are part of a service-learning house course led by Duke junior Mary Ellison Baars. Baars has revived a student project called Turning the Page, a Washington, D.C.-based program started by a former Duke student. Turning the Page works with schools and families to help disadvantaged children do well in school.

The students in the house course participate in a Duke chapter of Turning the Page, and then use the course for critical readings and discussion about their experiences.

Sock feet wiggle and notebooks are slung over the sofa arms as Baars asks for impressions on the week's readings.

"I hadn't known about how bad the punishments were sometimes for speaking Spanish in classrooms. I'd never seen that in any classrooms I'd been in," said sophomore Jill Isenstadt, describing an incident in the reading in which a teacher banned a Hispanic child from going to the bathroom because she could not ask to leave the classroom in English.

Baars said she had been told similar stories. One of the reasons for supporting bilingual education, she said, is to avoid these conflicts.

"In the long run, it's better to go bilingual, to give these children an equal chance at learning in a comfortable environment," she said.

Baars is an advocate for bilingual education, in which two languages are used in the classroom for students who don't speak English. English-only education can leave behind students who are not proficient in English, she said.

None of the students in the house course are native Spanish speakers, though three are fluent. Baars herself doesn't speak Spanish. Nonetheless, each describes their abiding interest in education and bilingualism, developed through classroom and service experiences.

Turning the Page is modeled after the program created by Duke graduate Jason King, Trinity '94. When Baars was a freshman, there was a Duke chapter, but it disbanded after its leader graduated.

At that time, volunteers worked with parents of children at Watts Elementary. They held workshops for four nights to talk to parents about literacy, education, and how to become involved with their children's schooling.

"It was a very exciting experience," Baars said. "I got to see the issues up close in Watts Elementary school, especially the need to reach out to these parents."

This year, she was determined to restore the project, under the guidance of Duke Community Partnerships Coordinator Jennifer Ahern-Dodson.

Baars pursued an independent study last semester on Hispanic children and the challenges they face in the education system with Ahern-Dodson. The research she did on that project was the genesis for reviving the group and starting the house course.

Baars's interest in Hispanic education policy began in high school, when she was selected as the student representative to her school district's superintendent. In 2001 she became one of two student appointees to the National Parent Teacher Association (NPTA) Board of Trustees.

While on the NPTA board, she was on the committee that launched the National Hispanic Outreach Initiative.

"Delia Pompa [former director of the U.S. Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Languages Affairs], as well as two of my other fellow board members on the NPTA were Hispanic, and they brought a lot of perspective on the issue," Baars said.

A political science and women's studies double major, Baars interned with the National Association for Bilingual Education last summer, often acting as a lobbyist on Capitol Hill and attending briefings on key educational issues. One memory she has of the experience is speaking politely but firmly to U.S. Sens. Edward Kennedy and Christopher Dodd, telling them that a bill of theirs needed to be changed.

"Your bill simply has to include protections for the language needs of limited English proficient students with disabilities," Baars recalls telling them.

Baars' experience in Washington plays out in the house course discussion. Last month, the students debated the merits and flaws of national legislation on education, like the Bush Administration's No Child Left Behind Act and the Head Start program. Then Baars laid out the plan for re-instituting Turning the Page.

The class underwent training with the English as a Second Language coordinator of E.K. Poe Elementary School in February, and this month is leading three workshops for the parents of Hispanic students at the school.

They also are providing activities for the children during the workshops, and are presenting both parents and children with a set of free books at the end of each one.

"One of the most important things about doing Turning the Page is that these parents' language needs are met," said Baars. "I think so many of the parents are embarrassed to use their broken English that they don't speak at all, and then don't end up communicating any of their concerns or questions to the school."

The other students agreed.

"People are so much more trusting when they can see that you're trying to speak their language," Isenstadt said. "Even if all we could say was 'Hola,' I think it would be appreciated."

Written by Pushpa Raja, a Senior at Trinity College.