Conclusion

Abstract

I have with me a close-up photo of three first graders that I took while I was visiting one of the schools. Two of the children are missing their front teeth, and their broad, toothless smiles are disarming. At whichever school I visited, several of the first graders had some of their baby teeth missing, their adult teeth yet to emerge. The photo served as an important reminder for me that no matter what situation they were in, they were all six and seven years old, at the same stage of physical and cognitive development. This was important to remember, because what was considered ‘normal’ varied so widely among the five schools that it was easy to forget that these schools were serving children of the same age group with the same ability to become bilingual. Every parent knows that six- and seven-year olds are still very, very young; their baby teeth have not completely fallen out. And yet, they are already firmly entrenched in a system that stratifies them educationally and linguistically.