The daughter of a Puerto Rican immigrant mother and an American father describes her mother's early experiences with English language use and ethnic bias, her family's language use patterns, family sensitivity to language attitudes, school experiences with language use and language learning, and her feelings of low self-esteem and frustration as a result of linguistic repression. She recounts the effects of this "forced non-bilingualism" on her ability to use her native Spanish, English, and her chosen third language, French, and supports the use of transitional and maintenance bilingual education programs to enhance bilingual children's self-esteem and to avoid the problems of her own experience. (MSE)