Teaching English. By Jim Cooper

As we know Puerto Rico is an island with a lot of history and changes during times. We are a bilingual island with many difficulties in learning English. Jim Cooper compares and contrasts the continentals and Puerto Ricans in many ways, specifically in the ways they teach English. 
As Cooper well explains the policy on English language teaching in Puerto Rico is always involved with politics. Since the commonwealth constitution was proclaimed in Puerto Rico, many improvements and changes came, including languages. In 1993, the Popular Democratic Party stated that only twenty percent of the population could speak English.

Even though Puerto Rico basically has a double identity the way that English is taught is not exactly the way it is taught in the states. Jim Cooper explains many mistakes that the teachers in Puerto Rico use to teach their students how to speak English. For example, teachers are not supposed to use their native language to teach a new one. They also spelled out words differently so that the students could pronounce them, losing the real spelling of the word (ex. mill, "meal"). The public school system did not have the same access in learning English as the private school system did, basically limiting the "better" English teaching to the wealthier students. It is obvious that Cooper desires that all Puerto Ricans learn English the way it is taught in the states rather than how they try to learn it. 
I believe that there is very poor control in teaching English, at least in the public school system. I studied in public schools in the states and here in Puerto Rico. In my opinion the English classes here in Puerto Rico are compared to the Spanish classes in the states. These classes stay on a basic level for a very long time. In high school, my peers would take class and when the teacher tried to explain very basic things, they would not understand. It frustrated me in so many ways. I thought that it was not a correct way to teach English especially to students who aspire to go to college and may eventually have to learn a second or third language as their personal or career goals. I do think that English should be taught in a more dynamic and challenging level.