EDRS PRICE MF-$0.76 HC Not Available from EDRS. PLUS POSTAGE DESCRIPTORS *Bilingualism; Bilingual Students; *Educational Discrimination; Elementary Secondary Education;

The possibility exists that another language resource, the Spanish language of the Mexican American, will be lost in the United States due to language ethnocentrism. Mexican American bilingualism is viewed as an intellectual handicap by public educators who do not understand the basic linguistic bias of instruments utilized to measure the intellectual development of Mexican Americans. Educational systems have discouraged Mexican American bilingualism by placing restrictions on the use of Spanish in the public schools and by failing to implemertt bilingual-bicultural programs for Mexican Americans. What is now necessary is the articulation and adoption of public school acculturation policies that allow these students to retain their bicultural heritage and language and to obtain the necessary academic skills to succeed in the American mainstream. There is an imminent need for preseLvice and inservice teachereducation programs that clarify the philosophy and objectives of bilingual and multicultural education programs and that orient public educators to the phenomenon of language variations and their effect on learning styles. A shift to acculturation policies in public education would benefit everyone. (TS