An Interview with Hector M., from “Dominican Parents, Bilingual Children”
by Amy Shaheen, 1991
Hector M. worked in the copy and print shop at Barnard College, Columbia University. I interviewed him about his attitudes toward bilingual education as part of a research project about Dominicans in New York City.
Hector’s experience in New York had been difficult. He moved here in 1981 with his father, but went for years without an apartment of his own, renting rooms from friends and relatives. Before he found his job at Barnard, he had “the worst jobs ever.” He worked as a house cleaner, a check-out in a supermarket, in a garage parking and washing cars, and in the garment district loading trucks. He was aware of discrimination against him by employers: “I got turned down for several jobs. I could see the people who took the jobs. I could do as well as them, but people used my language as an excuse, and also maybe racism.” Hector’s work experience was not unusual; according to a 19974 study by G. Hendricks, the single most common entry-level job for Dominicans in New York was washing dishes in restaurants.
Through these jobs he developed his English, which he had studied in the Dominican Republic but failed to learn. He had started out in an engineering program in Santo Domingo with his brother, but switched after two years to an academic high school where he studied political science. He explained, “When the U.S. had invaded twice in a century, people held it against the language. I failed English a few times, but in French, I did excellent. There was no animosity against French. One learns English out of necessity. I’m interested in French because I love it.”
His attitude toward English and his purely instrumental motivation for learning it reflect his attitude toward life in New York. One of the first things he experienced upon coming here was “a kind of hostility. In my country, when you go out in the neighborhood, you say hello to everybody. People live with doors open. Here, people live in a lot of fear, because of the nature of the society, of competition. It makes people hate each other.” He eventually planned to return to the Dominican Republic.
He had a daughter in 4th grade, in a bilingual program, but said that that year, he and other Hispanic and black parents “had to wage a battle.” The children in the bilingual classes did not have any books for practically the whole school year. He said, “My daughter never brought home a science book, but she had to take a science test. They never let her take a book until the night before the test.” In his daughter’s math class, there were also no books, and “the teacher taught them whatever she thought was in the book.” The parents observed, however, that the children in English-speaking classes had books.
Parents from his neighborhood prepared a petition and met with an assistant superintendent, who said the school had no money for books. Next, the parents distributed leaflets (Hector printed them) and went to a school board meeting. Soon afterward, the school distributed books for the first time. The Board also promised to have substitute teachers for the Hispanic classes. (When Hector’s daughter’s teacher was sick, her 4th grade class was sent to a kindergarten class for a week and a half because the school didn’t hire a sub.) Next year, he said, the parents planned to protest at the beginning of the school year.
Hector wants his daughter to stay in the bilingual program as long as possible. He said, “I insist that she learn both languages, for her own development. She comes from a Spanish-speaking country, and her family speaks Spanish. So far, she speaks them both very well.” He mentioned that some of the children in his daughter’s school got switched from bilingual classes to mainstream with their parents’ consent. The parents were outraged.
He reads to his daughter in both languages, but emphasizes English, because the tests they must take are in English. He reads English and Spanish newspapers, but watches television mostly in English because Spanish television is “mostly romance stories, which I hate.”
I asked if he believed his daughter would have a better life in the future. He said he would like to think that, but he had to be realistic: racism is growing, housing is scarce, and there is so much corruption in city government. He feels her future is threatened.