A Puerto Rican Vision of Bilingual-Bicultural Education

In the years before the consent decree wasDecentralization Law.
signed, Puerto Rican parents and educators inPuerto Rican community support for bilingual
New York City had faced institutional resistanceeducation in New York City had always been high.
to the implementation of bilingual and ESLIt was motivated by a dedication to cultural
instruction and to their demands for communitysurvival, reflective of their struggle for identity in
participation in the governance of neighborhoodNew York City, the quintessential "melting pot"
schools. While the "Boricua" community wasAmerican city. "Boricuans" embraced bilingual
struggling for bilingual/bicultural educationbicultural education as an expression of a pluralist
programs, African Americans sought to obtainphilosophy that respects the language and culture
desegregated, high-quality schooling inof their children and families.
community-controlled public schools.This was in direct opposition to the deficit models
Encouraged by the civil rights victories of Africanof education embedded in many compensatory
Americans, Puerto Rican leaders createdprograms of the 1960s. "Boricuan" community
organizations like Aspira and PRLDEF and engagedleaders and educators argued that their children
in protracted negotiations with the central schooland youth, as native-born citizens of the United
board. These measures led to the 1974 consentStates whose native language was Spanish, had a
decree compromise. Concurrently, both Puertoright to be taught in a language they understood
Rican and African American communitiesand that this type of instruction should prevail until
participated in the 1960s community controlthey could acquire sufficient proficiency in English
"school wars" that led to another politicalto enable them to learn alongside their
compromise, New York State's 1969 SchoolEnglish-speaking peers.