largest percentage, 46 percent, are classified as English speakers as they speak more English than Spanish, but their English skills are still considerably below grade level. Bilingual and ESL programs have been shaped to these students but have had modest success at best (Ransford 180-181).
Teacher expectations also come into play, and the fact that teachers have lower expectations often means that they get lower performance from these students. Teachers often underestimate the abilities of their students and define them as losers, and students react to the perception that this is the way their teacher thinks of them and perform at a low level. Most teachers do not have a conscious desire to produce failure, but this is the effect just the same, an effect brought about by subtle forms of interaction (Ransford 188).
Tracking involves labeling and decisions as to what sort of program a given student or group of students should pursue. It is widely believed that the American school system is consistent with the ideal of an open class industrial society, but the classifications used for lower-class black and Chicano children are not neutral as such children are often mislabeled "retarded" or "low-normal ability." These are supposedly the result of "objective" test scores (Ransford 183).
3. Immigration is a major political issue at the present time, specifically immigration between Mexico and the United States. Zero sum immigration would suggest that the rate of immigration not be such as to increase significantly the population of the United Stat
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