Immigrant children exempt from English-learning nightmare?

Immigrant children exempt from English-learning nightmare?

By Zh-I Cheng, 20 June 2004.
Translation courtesy Independent Press Association NY

Immigrant children who have lived in the United States less than five years would be exempt from passing the state English Regents exam to graduate from high school, according to a bill recently proposed by New York State Assembly. The bill is a response to the fact that many immigrant students were unable to move on to a higher grade or sometimes even forced to drop out from high school because they failed to pass the exam.


Thrilled by the bill that would benefit recently arrived Chinese immigrant students, current immigrant students commented how often they lose the chances to enter universities or colleges because of the Regents exam, and how this undermines their confidence to furthering their education. If passed, they believe the bill would help a lot of students.


However, opponents argued that instead of lowering the standard of the exam, government and educational agencies should provide more programs that assist new immigrant students to improve their language proficiency.


State assemblyman Peter Rivera (D-Bronx), a strong supporter of the bill, pointed out that many bright immigrant students have excelled on subjects like mathematics and science, but not in English, usually because they have not lived in the States long enough to master English and pass the exam. This leads to some immigrant students dropping out of school, not being able to move on to next grade or go to college.


The bill would allow these students to take a writing exam in their native language and pass a test in English proficiency instead of the English Regents exam, which tests grammar, reading, and writing when students are in 11th grade.


Because students are worried about the Regents exam and afraid of not being able to advance to 12th grade, ¡§they can actually start to learn English after entering college. But the current system does not even give them a chance to go to college,¡§ said Jin Hui Wang, a 10th grader at Lafayette High School who has been in the States for four years.


Zhuo Quan Li, a college-bound student who passed his regents with a score of 83 percent and came to the United States more than three years ago, said, ¡§I didn¡¦t know any English when I arrived here.¡¨ Li spent six months studying English rigorously in order to catch up with the his classmates.


Although Li knows several of his friends dropped out of school after they failed the exam, he said it is actually not so difficult to pass the exam if you devote yourself single-mindedly to learning English. Li still thinks, however, that government agencies should provide more help to these students rather than just lowering the standard. ¡§After all, for students who cannot pass the exam, it¡¦s going to be very hard for them to attend college,¡¨ he said.


Even bright students are dropping out if they cannot pass the exam. Qiang Gao, a teacher at Lafayette High School, said, ¡§I had a student who got a 51 percent on his exam, four points short to be able to graduate. I haven¡¦t seen him since then.¡¨


Gao said he agrees with the bill because it¡¦s going to benefit immigrant students. Yet, he underlined that there should be complementary initiatives offered in colleges as well, such as English as a Second Language (ESL) courses, to help students learn English.