Welcoming Remarks by James Peyser, Pioneer Institute, and John Silber, Boston University, at the Read Institute/Pioneer Institute Conference October 30, 1998, at Boston University

John Silber has been a leader in Massachusetts in the area of bilingual education. Boston University is an organization of extraordinary rationality in a society that is not always rational in the way in which it goes about its business. The Pioneer Institute gathers the evidence, assimilates the arguments, and tries to come up with policies that make sense and that are compelling by virtue of their intellectual clarity, coherence, and their humility before the facts of the situation. Bilingual education could be a threat to equality of opportunity, or it could be a vehicle for equality of opportunity. Although the best way to make all children literate in English is a matter of controversy, the purpose of bilingual education is to use the first language of the child to facilitate learning English.