Pros And Cons Of Bilingual Education

The United States is becoming more and more bilingual every day. It is important for students of the United States of America to keep up with the advancing world. The easiest way to learn a second language is when a person is young. This is why it would be beneficial for schools to start teaching a foreign language in kindergarten and continuing it through twelfth grade. Students are more likely to learn and remember a foreign language if they are introduced to it at a young age. A majority of other countries teach foreign languages to their students throughout their school lives. Most students coming out of high school in other countries are totally

In my opinion bilingualism plays a major role in the educational development of children. This is because research has shown that children who are fluent in their home language are more successful in learning a second language. Furthermore, being bilingual offers greater sensitivity to language, more flexibility in thinking and better ear for listening. It also improves a child’s understanding for the native language. Moreover, knowledge of other languages increases a career of opportunities offering several job options.

Language is an important part of our lives. I remember when I arrived to USA I could speak a little English. I went to school to improve my language, reading and writing skills; even now I am learning my second language, without English I cannot survive in this new environment. Now I am raising my own kids and I want them to have this important skill, this privilege of knowing a second language, language of their parents and grandparents. By looking at studies of bilingual children, research shows how important it is for a child to learn a second language. Raising a bilingual child is a benefit because it improves social skills, academic proficiency, introduces child to a different culture, and prepares for the future.

The United States needs to be bilingual. Being bilingual open doors to more opportunities. According to Robbins, the number of bilingual speakers has gone up since the 1990s. At the same time, the number of foreign-born millennials has gone down. In other words, more people in the U.S. are learning a second language at home or in school. It is evidence that people who speak two languages have more opportunities for anything they try to do. Those people help to others to communicate each other.

Over the years, bilingual education has involved teaching children academics in two different languages so they may become competent learners and be successful at acquiring English. Before 1968, bilingual education was not a required course in American schools, but instead as a voluntary program. This changed in 1981 when a lawsuit was brought against the state of Texas that resulted in the requirement of bilingual education programs in elementary schools as English as a second language (ESL) program, bilingual programs in post-elementary grades through eighth grade, and ESL programs in high school. This type of education has been a hot topic for the state governments of the United States, debating whether to keep in the curriculum of schools. Many asking themselves, why should we to provide bilingual education for these students? What will students gain from this type of education? Studies have shown there are benefits that range from cognitive ability, educational advancement, to employment opportunities with a bilingual education, while the critics label it as a “failed experiment” that costed a whole lot of money and years to maintain a basic foundation in the second language. Although the cost is hefty for this exploration of a new language and is time consuming, the cognitive abilities, educational advancement, and employment opportunities greatly outweigh these opposing factors.

This nation is a place where different cultures come together and learn to coexist. From native America, Latinos, Asians and probably other nations that are not well known; they all have something in common which they all are bilinguals. Authors Cisneros, Agosin, Dumas and Tan clearly illustrate that being bilingual has both advantages and disadvantages.

It was great to know that world's number one highest IQ is in Korea. Unfortunately, I found my brain is just as normal, through the IQ test we did. I surprised that there is about 6800 languages around the world. Which means, there are more languages need to introduce to people. Also, only 6.3% of Americans are bilingual. Even the number of different languages people should speak is differ by cultures. Like in Korea, bilingual is general for us, since most of us did learn more than two languages when we were at high school. So I was pretty shocked that only that amount of Americans are bilingual. Overall, it was great

Throughout the years, time has showed us that being bilingual has gain importance and is consider to be more of a necessity now. A brain that understands more than one language is more alert than one who knows just one language. Being bilingual has many benefits. A couple advantages of being bilingual would be greater job opportunities, comfortable traveling and higher test scores.

Learning these languages early will prepare them for a better future, dual language programs show students a broader world view, whatever the foreign language of the student, and lead to greater opportunities for collaborative learning. Some jobs require a second language such as: Business Executives, Stenography Banking, and Finance International Operator Translator, Publishing, Teacher (K-12), Study Abroad, Coordinator, Textbook Author/Editor, Hotel and Restaurant Staff / Management Publisher of Tourist Literature Visitor, and Convention Bureaus. I believe that American students should be required to learn a second language. Learning a second language will enable American students an opportunity to better understand other cultures and languages this will result in our generation being better world citizens and continue our role as a global leader. 96% of the world's population lives outside of the United States. Countries that border our nation speak a language other than English; by learning a second language we will more effectively communicate with our neighbors. Employees of this new era must have the skills and ability to communicate fluently in several

The topic that I will be discussing is the debate over bilingual education in the United States school system. Equality in education is an opportunity that is open to everyone "regardless of race or class or economic status, are entitled to a fair chance and to the tools for developing their individual powers of mind and spirit to the utmost"(Cochran). As the creation of The Bilingual Education Act of 1974 proved to be useful in providing federal funds "to meet the language needs of non-English speaking families"(Cochran) giving the stability for these bilingual programs to continue. This argument can strengthened even more through the data gathered in the 1970's revealing that over 70 percent of these programs were established. Usually in the regions where districts had high population of non-English Speaking families usually programs "were created in the Southwest and Pacific Coast areas"(Cochran). A issue that also arises in bilingual education is the lack of minority teachers that are present to help school systems. Minority teachers "currently make up slightly more than 14 percent of the teaching profession"(Cochran) which has been researched to be due to the salary structure for teacher to seek a profession with an increased income. Diversity has become a valued in many universities for its benefits towards higher education. This occurs when "varieties of racial, economic, ethic, and social groups interact on the same campus"(Cochran). Similar to proposition 227 that recently was revoked two years ago in California which virtually outlawed bilingual education (Cengage).

According to Maria Sanchez Diez, a reporter for the website Quartz, by the year 2050 the US will be the largest Spanish speaking country in the world, if the rate at which Latinos are coming in and staying stays consistent. As the U.S grows with spanish speakers and latinos, American english speakers become more defensive against the spanish speakers. English speakers try to stop people speaking their own language in school settings, and threaten to harm non natives. The idea of bilingualism goes beyond just speaking two languages, it ties to a person’s identity and their culture. Both english speakers and spanish speakers want to keep who they are, they both fear each other, anxiety rests between both, both have troubles but American

Bilingual education has become a hot topic issue in the U.S. Bilingual education is designed to help students with minimal fluency in the English, in this case, are being taught academic content their native and secondary language, so they would not have to “sink or swim” or feel lost in English-only classes and drop out of school entirely. The main goal is for these students to become proficient in the English language. However, people against bilingual education say that by doing this, it will diminish or hinder the ability for students to master English. Even though I understand this argument, I disagree that bilingual education will have a detrimental effect to the non-native students. Actually I believe that most of these non-English speakers will benefit from this type of education style. Many do not realize the benefits that bilingual education can bring to a student who is a non-English speaker. Why take away a language that child will benefit from in the future? This country is a melting pot of many different ethnic cultures; and due to this pot, it has created this identity of openness, opportunity, and affluence. More of these classes should be reintegrated into the public school system in order to help non-native learners of English to better master the language and integrate into the American culture.

Over half of the world is able to speak another language other than their mother tongue. Studies have shown that learning a new language enhances our cognitive functions. The connection amongst bilingualism and insight is instructive about the association amongst dialect and psyche. From the point of view of dialect, the inquiry is the manner by which bilingualism may help or obstruct comprehension – barely translated here as official capacity. From the point of view of higher perception, the inquiry is the thing that sorts of encounters enhance official work. Announced subjective advantages from bilingualism extend from none to significant as a component of age, kind of bilingualism.

Imagine struggling to learn English because your school banned speaking other languages. One solution to this fear is bilingual education, which involved academic programs that teach in two languages. In June 1998, California voters passed Proposition 227, which removed most “bilingual” classes by requiring public schools in the state to teach all English language development classes only in English (Smith). With many immigrants storming into California, Proposition 58 overturned Proposition 227 in the November 2016 election (Hopkinson). Now, in 2017, California houses at least 220 languages, in which 44% that speak a language other than English (Dolan). With the diversity and immigrant-heavy population of the Bay Area, schools should require bilingual education for the most-spoken languages of the city, besides English. Bilingual education would help keep people in touch with their culture while accepting other cultures. Students can also avoid grade retention and get an extra boost later in the workforce.

There is seven continents on this planet, a hundred and ninety five countries, populated with seven point four billion people that make up a total of six thousand nine hundred and nine languages that currently exist all around the world . So, imagine how many people migrated to the U.S with a language that is not english that hinders the ability to interact with english only speakers.