hardboiled

Fighting ESL (English as a Superior Language)

High school student is punished for not complying with racist policy

Attesting to the stringency with which Iowa’s Storm Lake High School enforces systematic racism, assistant principal Beau Ruleaux responded to a student’s protests against a discriminatory policy by calling her “no Rosa Parks.”

This is the current plight of Iowa high school senior Lori Phanachone, a Laotian American who was recently suspended for her refusal to take the English Language Development Assessment (ELDA), an English proficiency exam allegedly designed for students whose first language was not English. Consequently, the $86,000 she has earned in scholarships from Buena Vista University (as well as even greater financial awards from Iowa State University), her membership in the National Honor Society, and her ability to run on the track team and attend prom are now in jeopardy.

Now, the issue of graduating English-proficient students is sensible, especially with the current problems surrounding state-funded education and the need to adequately prepare students for their college careers. However, what makes this story obscenely preposterous is that Phanachone, who was born and educated in the United States, has never been on an English Second Language (ESL) track. In fact, quite the opposite is true: Phanachone is an honor student with a 3.9 grade point average, and was only administered the test because she listed Lao as her first language on a school registration form. As Indiana University professor Dennis Baron astutely observes on his blog, “Even though that is the case, she was able to read those forms in English, and fill them out in English as well – Iowa has no Lao version of the entrance forms, though they are available in Bosnian.”

Officials at Storm Lake High School, where Phanachone attends, have offered several attempts at justifying their ridiculous policies. Superintendent of Schools Paul Tedesco maintained that her refusal was just like any act of “insubordination,” and the school system is governed by policy and rules. Others have suggested that the issue here is not of a discriminatory practice, but rather a matter of bureaucracy. Storm Lake administrators have cited that the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act requires the exam for any student whose first language is not English. The school also receives additional funding for high achievers on the ELDA, a strong incentive for officials to pressure high-achieving students like Phanachone to take the exam.

The discrimination here is most evident in the fact that eligibility for ELDA exemption is entirely arbitrary: Phanachone was only made to take the test because she self-listed Lao as her primary language at home. She said that someone had advised her to have initially listed English as her primary home language, indicating that no one really would have investigated whether the clear English-speaker was telling the truth or not. Subtextually, the test targets students who may not identify as native English speakers, even if they obviously grew up speaking the language elsewhere. The test reflects a high degree of xenophobia; it is mainly immigrant communities and families that do not speak English at home.

The issue is also not about “insubordination”; it is about being able to challenge rules that are clearly aimed at punishing diversity. According to Baron and contrary to the school’s claims, both the Iowa education code and the NCLB Act excuse students who have academically shown English proficiency from the ELDA. One would think that a school district that forcefully mandates English proficiency would be able to comprehend such legislation.

Ruleaux’s inappropriate and disturbing aforementioned statement (which, curiously, he has not clarified or elucidated in any coverage of this story) is hardly shocking considering Iowa’s history of xenophobic institutional mandates. Iowa first barred the use of non-English languages in 1918, and in 2002, passed an official English law. This past year, Iowa Representative Steve King sued Iowa’s governor for allowing election materials on the state website in non-English languages. While this is requisite through federal law, King argued that it violated Iowa’s official English law. Nonetheless, this is not just a problem with Iowa, whose Asian American population is 1.6%. Many other states with greater Asian populations, California included, also administer these tests under similarly ludicrous guidelines and policies.

The rules under which the ELDA is administered isolate students by classifying them as foreign and insinuating their inability to succeed academically on the arbitrary basis of language and self-identification. As such, it is evidently a covert blow to multiculturalism.

Above all, Phanachone should be commended rather than punished; after all, it takes an unbelievable amount of balls to stand up to a key example of institutionalized racism in public schools. This is especially true given her young age and the fact that many of her high school credentials for college are now at stake. It is worrisome that she is the first of many minority students disgusted with the exam to actually outright refuse to take it; and after all, how many in her position would do the same thing? I am ashamed to admit that I wouldn’t have. She may have been set as an example by the administration to deter future rabble rousers, but it is an example that students of color should continue to follow until systemic discrimination is recognized and educational institutions stop insulting their students’ ability to distinguish a bigoted policy when they see one.