In casual conversations I have often heard that the CAV government has changed its language education policy in reaction to the overwhelming demands of parents. On the same issue, I have also been told that the CAV government is implementing changes in language education in order to shape the identity of students, to make them more Basque or Basques first. Though both explanations of the same events ascribe the agency, or motor of action, differently, they both explain it in political terms: "the government did it to ensure its standing by pleasing the majority" or "the government did it to promote its agenda among generations of school children". This chapter explores publicly held opinion regarding bilingual education.

The bare facts undisputed by all sides are as follow: (1) bilingual education was introduced in 3 different models, (2) access to those models was not and is not distributed equally across the CAV, and (3) over the past 12 years many public schools have closed. Why some schools have closed , while other schools have grown or why some schools are still kept around even though their student population is dwindling are all a matter of opinion. I divide public opinion into external, those expressed in a public forum which is witnessed by a general audience, and the individual opinion which is expressed in private or public contexts but only intended for the witnessing of an individual, a limited audience or non intended happen stance audience.

External public opinion includes debates and news in mass media and less traditional media such as writing on the walls or pintadas. These external manifestations of public opinion are the first source of information for any foreign observer, but they are often times contradictory and rarely surmise the opinion held by the majority. These external manifestations of opinion force the local population to partake in a daily exercise in the construction or reaffirmation of their own individual opinions. Aside from the obvious spaces for opinions in mass media such as editorials, interviews and debates, a close analysis of local news in the media reveals the presentation of news to be itself editorialized. A more in depth analysis of a single medium, newspapers, shows that the definition of what is newsworthy and presentation of facts is often different across newspapers. In fact, for every organized political perspective there is a newspaper and no single newspaper seems to encompass or represent the heterogeneity of voice or opinions in the area.

Individual public opinion is usually gathered and assessed by asking individuals in various settings using polls, formal or casual interviews and unscripted conversation. For the purpose of this investigation, individual opinion is not only analyzed to establish the majority but to roughly define the tendencies in worldview and the percentages held by these perspectives. The exercise of looking for solely for the majority opinion is problematic and of limited benefit in the Spanish Basque Country since the majority of public opinion will vary from province to province, city to city and living quarter to living quarter. Looking at the majority will not always explain the conflict and tension that does characterize the Spanish Basque Country because "majority opinions" do not reveal the reasons behind the plurality of perspectives and their geographical ethnic or social boundaries. Social variables analyzed include age, ethnic identity, education, residence, linguistic background, family history and political.

The local impressions of language education policy and different schooling options discussed in this entry will serve as the backdrop for subsequent entries as I discuss what factors are actually considered when families choose one schooling option over the other and visit the daily ritual at various schools. After the series on Public and Private opinion I will confront public opinion of schools with a description of the actual everyday school experience. The much theorized about product of education: high school students and their perspectives, are presented there after. This immediate series of entries on public opinion is designed to be in fact the background that will arm us with the questions posed all throughout as we elicit the specific accounts of how change came about and to what end from teachers, school directors, Ikastola Movement officials, the Education Department, and regional politicians.