ABSTRACT
In 1974 a bilingual program had been started for the large number of Italian immigrant children of limited English who lived in the district. The Newton experience is representative of the defensiveness of the bilingual education establishment and the damaging power of the reigning ideology in this field. In 1983 the Bilingual Bureau notified Newton that its bilingual program would be formally audited. Although for the sake of accountability, all bilingual education programs should be audited every few years, the Bilingual Bureau has never had enough staff to monitor all of the Massachusetts cities with bilingual programs. The Massachusetts Association for Bilingual Education mounted a well-organized campaign, complete with demonstrations in front of the State House, emotional appeals not to destroy bilingual education, and scare tactics to nourish the fear that any degree of choice would end all bilingual programs. The defensiveness and paranoia of the bilingual education establishment are exaggerated and self-serving.
