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Report On Oil Reserves In Cocopah Territory And Bilingual Education

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Gwen Bradforth 7 May 2023 Advisory Report on Oil Reserves in Cocopah Territory and Bilingual Education Introduction The discovery of oil reserves in S.W. Arizona on the land owned by the Cocopah Native American tribe has raised a significant issue between the tribe and the state of Arizona. The leaders of the Cocopah people have demanded that the state of Arizona offer bilingual education programs to the tribe and other Native American groups in exchange for allowing the state to explore the oil reserves. This report aims to provide Governor Hobbs with background information on the Cocopah tribe and bilingual education programs and suggest the direction the Governor should take in negotiating with the Cocopah to acquire the oil reserves. Language …show more content…

In the early 19th century, the US government established re-education schools to strip native children of their language and culture and assimilate them into American culture. Of the 115 indigenous languages spoken in the U.S. today, two are healthy, 34 are in danger, and 79 will go extinct within a generation without serious intervention. Of the hundreds of indigenous languages in North America, only a few will likely survive past the 21st century. The loss of indigenous languages represents a larger loss of culture, heritage, and identity among all Native Americans. General Information on the Cocopah Tribe The Cocopah tribe lives in the Lower Colorado River Valley, spreading from southwestern Arizona, southeastern California, and northwestern Mexico. The modern-day Cocopah reservation is on the southwest point of Arizona, bordering Mexico. According to the Cocopah Indian Tribe website, there are around 1,000 enrolled members. The Cocopah language belongs to the Yuman language family and is an endangered language spoken only by adults. The majority of the Cocopah people speak English. The Cocopah Indian Tribe runs a K-12 school in Somerton, Arizona, where the education department is. Bilingual …show more content…

The structure of bilingual education programs differs depending on the school, but generally, they are either transitional or maintenance. Maintenance programs provide instruction in both languages to preserve a heritage language by giving proficiency in both languages to the students. Transitional programs eventually transition from both languages to English-only instruction. If one were to enter an English+Spanish program, one would have classes in both English and Spanish, with roughly equal distribution of both. If it were a transition program, the proportion of English would increase until it was English only. A study at Johns Hopkins found that bilingual education teaches bilingualism without compromising English proficiency. Comparable studies have shown that students gain proficiency in the second language and outperform their nonimmersion peers on standardized reading in English. The Current Status of Bilingual Education Programs in Arizona In 2000, Arizona passed Proposition 203, which required English-only instruction in all public schools. This was a result of the widespread “English-only” sentiment at the time, which was firmly against any bilingual education. However, the Arizona State Board of Education recently approved a rule that gives more flexibility and allows schools to offer dual-language immersion programs. Additionally, lawmakers have been pushing to repeal Proposition

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On November 7, 2000, 63% of Arizona voters approved the Arizona Proposition 203, also known as English for the Children: “ [this ballot initiative] would repeal the existing bilingual education laws and change the law to require all classes to be taught in English except that pupils who are classified as ‘English Learners’ will be educated through sheltered English immersion programs during a temporary transition period. ”(Bayless, Betsey). While the English immersion program is thought to be more effective, it may not be the most suitable or appropriate method of learning for most students; Arizona Proposition 203 introduces a new program with the purpose of providing students with the best English instruction but prohibits other methods such

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These schools have been described as an instrument to wage intellectual, psychological, and cultural warfare to turn Native Americans into “Americans”. There are many reports of young Native Americans losing all cultural belonging. According to an interview with NPR, Bill Wright was sent to one of these schools. He lost his hair, his language, and then his Navajo name. When he was able to return home, he was unable to understand or speak to his grandmother.

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Soon to follow the acquisition, Choctaws in the east and Caddo peoples in the west were forcibly removed from their homelands, and instead given unstable reservation land in return. The title given to them would soon be “domestic dependents.” Native American children were taken away from their parents and put into school systems where they were educated on the “white” way of life. The rest of Louisiana’s populace, made up mostly of French speaking people, was far from celebrated. For years they were denied the right to vote, slowly introduced to democracy, and overall shown a lack of respect for the situation they had been dealt unwillingly.

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