Originally published in 1985, A School Divided is about bilingual education in a Chinese-American community. Americans had recognized the need to provide bilingual education for non-English-speaking minorities, particularly since the 1960s when waves of new immigrants and refugees began to arrive. Some efforts had been made at federal, state and local levels to provide such education. Unfortunately, the results had often been inconclusive; minority children continued to fail in school. Dr Guthrie argues this is because the research into this type of education is flawed. This study was not only to test a particular linguistic, cultural or structural hypothesis about bilingual education, but also to document ethnographically what really takes place in a bilingual program. This study raises the important question as to what kind of bilingual education is best for whom? It concludes that the results show conflicting needs between a transitional bilingual education and a maintenance bilingual education, which cannot be served by the same program. Today it can be read in its historical context.
