This article advances the view that constitutional doctrine now requires schools to provide instruction in the native tongue of non-English-speaking children until they have learned English. It will be argued that equality of educational opportunity, and hence equal protection, does not exist when the instruction provided by the state is incomprehensible to identifiable groups of children, and that to compel attendance under these conditions is a deprivation of liberty without due process of law. Before these two constitutional issues are dealt with in Parts 4 and 5, the factual and legal background of the problem is discussed in Part 1, and the statutory and state constitutional provisions lending support for affirmative judicial action are reviewed in Parts 2 and 3. (Author/KM)