Pressure to abandon a language in favor of a more dominant one has historically been direct and forceful. In 19th-century Australia and the United States, native children were sent to boarding schools, where they were punished for speaking their own language. No public or official use of native languages was allowed. The English government used similar methods to forcibly repress the Celtic languages of Ireland and Wales. Although recent language policies in all three places attempt to reverse this trend, for many languages it is simply too late. Besides, even now, speakers of the dominant language take occasional backward steps. The government of Australia's Northern Territory recently decided to discontinue bilingual education programs, while the Internet provider America Online has banned the use of Irish on its "Peace in Ireland" chat group. Proponents of English as the official language of the United States ended bilingual education in California recently with the passage of Proposition 227. Repressive language policies are common in many parts of the world. East African countries actively encourage citizens to abandon tribal languages in favor of Swahili or another "unifying" common language as a way of promoting loyalty to new governments. Minority languages are routinely repressed as a first step toward repressing the minorities themselves. One recent example is the Kosovars' struggle to continue speaking Albanian freely in the face of Serbian policies to the contrary. Although interest in language preservation is on the rise in some quarters, many people have an equally strong interest in stamping out minority tongues.