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Eirinn McLaughlin
APLING 614
Prof. Gounari
Wiki – Article Summary
Arizona Prop. 203
12/12/13
Proposition 203, an English-only initiative of Ron Unz, was voted into
Arizona law by 63% of the voters on November 7, 2000 (Wright, 2005 p.663).
Wayne E. Wright argues that this English For the Children mandate was sold as a
way to give ELLs “more choice,” in their learning but is “widely recognized as the
antiblingual education initiative” (Wright, 2005 p.663). Wright explains that he
believes proposition 203 lies within the “political spectacle model” because its
“creation, interpretation, and implementation” was an act of antibilingualism.
Wright provides a summary of the political spectacle theory, the background of
Arizona at the time of the proposition, the campaign for it, and the “interpretation
and implementation of it” (Wright, p.663).
Edleman’s (1985, 1988) political spectacle model is different take on the
“traditional views of the public policy-making process.” This theory shows how
“’American politics have become detached from their democratic foundations [. . .],
which groups have more power to influence the state in its allocations of values’”
(Wright, 2005 p.663). Meaning, when it looks like something is being done in the
name of democracy and for the greater good, may actually be a farce of what
traditional democracy is there to do. Edleman says, “’Education policies in the
political spectacle serve the special interests of the few (often policies that stratify
and segregate) and hide behind a mask of common sense and the common good’ (p.
37).” Simply put, what the politicians do is all an act, with the main actor being Ron
Unz fighting for the good of the people. Wright ties the “symbolic language: [. . .]
ambiguous, metaphorical language” of Edleman’s theory to the usage of language in
the English for the Children campaign; it’s for the children, how could it be bad? The
voters in Arizona think of this mandate as a good thing for the children of their state
because of the “symbolic language” that the campaign used to sell it as something
other than what it actually was, an antibilingual campaign.
Reference:
Wright, W. E. (November 2005). The political spectacle Arizona’s proposition 203.
Educational Policy, vol. 19 no. 5, 662-700. doi: 10.1177/0895904805278066