The Shortcomings Of Bilingual Education

Around 1959, bilingual education took flight in the United States. Starting in Miami and quickly making its way San Francisco, bilingual education soon led to the Bilingual Education Act, which promoted “No Child Left Behind”. Only twenty years later, the act acquired the attention of high schools around the country. Nonetheless, bilingual education is not always taken to be the cure-all for acclimating immigrants to the United States. In his article “Aria: A Memoir of Bilingual Childhood”, Richard Rodriguez argues that students should not take part in bilingual education by explaining how it takes away individuality and a sense of family through the use of ethos, diction, and imagery; Rodriguez also uses parallelism and ethos to point out how a bilingual childhood can help students feel connected to society.

In the article, Speak Spanish, You’re in America!: El Huracan over language and Culture, Juan Gonzalez, a journalist and broadcaster of the daily show, Democracy Now, describes how bilingualism has impacted the United States’ modern education system. He describes an amendment that would constitute English as the official in the United States, which he believes can be a potential threat to the educational system. Gonzalez suggests that instead of having an amendment that constitutes English as the national language, American schools should implement Spanish to highlight the importance of being bilingualism in the American educational system. A constitutional amendment declaring English as the national language would be damaging to bilingual students because it would limit their capability of communicating in English or their native language, and therefore they have would fall behind in classes and will not succeed in the American educational system. To highlight the importance of bilingualism, even more the educational system should implement a variety of languages.

It may be that ideals of strong American nationalism and pride stand in the way of bilingual education. “Opponents of bilingualism, and by extension bilingual education , see the use of multiple languages as a sign that the home country's culture is being diluted by the introduction of foreign languages, viewpoints, and traditions” (Ginsberg 1). According to a video posted by USA Today, even the current US president, Donald Trump, has expressed ideals against Americans conversing in languages other than English (Trump). But the anti-bilingual attitude held by some in America needs to be reevaluated because there are just too many benefits, and not enough evidence of harms, to keep students away from the privilege of knowing more than one

Proposition 58 would undo almost 20 years of regulations limiting bilingual education. It repeals the English-only immersion requirements, along with the waiver provisions of the 1998 Proposition 227. Currently, under Proposition 227, all education is conducted exclusively in English, with a few exceptions. These exceptions include voluntary education programs, such as dual emersion classes, where students concurrently learn English and a second language. In effect, this proposition would bring back programs where students, that are not fully fluent in English, have education in both English and their native language. I understand the educational value of bilingual classrooms; however, I am concerned that it would cause segregation and significant disadvantages for students.

The greatest concern of mandating “English only” schools in California for example is that 80 percent of the population of students is Latino. Miner further explains, “Good bilingual programs are about more than learning a language, it should be about respect for diversity and multiculturalism (Bilingual Education, 1999).”

Around 1959, bilingual education took flight in the United States. Starting in Miami and quickly making its way San Francisco, bilingual education soon led to the Bilingual Education Act which promoted “No Child Left Behind”. Only twenty years later, the act acquired the attention of high schools around the country. Nonetheless, bilingual education is not always taken to be the cure-all for acclimating immigrants to the United States. In his article “Aria: A Memoir of Bilingual Childhood”, Richard Rodriguez argues that students should not take part in bilingual education by explaining how it takes away individuality and a sense of family through use of ethos, diction, and imagery; Rodriguez also uses

Bilingual Education where Supporters feel that students miss a great deal by not being taught in their family’s language. That children that retain their family’s language will retain a sense of individuality. Their ethnic heritage & cultural ties. Helping Students acquire the skills of a classroom crucial for public success. Rodriguez also discusses the use of teaching and using a single language.

The study found that bilingual students (in the bilingual school) spent 47% of class time speaking Spanish, the traditional schooling group only spent 25% of class time speaking Spanish, always to other Mexican American students. When looking at the students outside of the classroom bilingual schooled students 63% of their time speaking Spanish to their Mexican American peers. Traditionally schooled children spent 64% of their time speaking English to their Mexican American peers. Prior to the beginning of the study both groups of children reported themselves as speaking Spanish more than English, however according to parental reports Traditional schooled students were reported to use more English than Spanish at the end of the first grade while the Bilingual students were reported to be using more Spanish than English by the end of the first grade. The results of the study found that the language spoken by the parents does not have considerable statistical influence on which language the child uses more, or even whether or the child is in a bilingual or is traditionally schooled. Perhaps most surprising is the finding that traditionally schooled children still result in speaking more English than Spanish with their Mexican-American peers when compared to their counterparts in the bilingual programs. Perhaps because

The Bilingual Education Act of 1968 provides a clear perspective on the issue of the public policy process. It started out with a clear goal in mind: to provide instruction to non-English students in American schools by providing some teaching in their native language along with English. The act was a part of the broader Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and a part of the Civil Rights movement because of its issues relating to language and culture. It was particularly aimed to the large amount of Hispanic immigrants in the American Southwest. The provides an issue that is complex and changing rapidly especially in today’s multiethnic and multilinguistic United States society.

People of all ages constantly learn how to speak multiple languages. Children are taught to become bilingual, which increases their knowledge. A young boy named Richard Rodriguez grew up in San Francisco, California with a household of Spanish speaking family members. Rodriguez barely knew English when he entered his early years of Elementary school. Through the course of his education Rodriguez took note of how different he was from his family, and slowly began to lose his heritage. Rodriguez’s family embarrassed him since he was categorized as a Scholarship boy, which means a good student yet also a troubled son whose moderately endowed (Rodriguez 19).

Bilingualism has shown to strengthen cognitive ability. Bilingualism maintain cultures and self-esteem and build strong communities of families that can effectively contribute back to society. Unfortunately, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 states that it was established to “help ensure that English language learners and immigrant students attain English proficiency and achieve academically” which has a tendency to be interpreted as programs that look more like English Immersion or assimilation which is something that has been proven not to be academically successful. The goal of our current educational policies toward education do not utilize such terms or seem to support cultural maintenance or

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.

The reading is directly concerned with the reasons underlying bilingual children's poor performance on standardized tests. The research believes that we as a nation constantly misunderstand the nature of bilingualism itself. Therefore, the problems encountered by bilingual individuals on such tests will continue to be misconstrued. This relates to my research because an overwhelming number of Latino students that took my survey and may have influenced results by the language barrier.

In this literature review I will be discussing studies that are in favor, not in favor, and neutral on bilingual education.

In recent years, much attention has been drawn to the bilingual education debate. Immigration is booming, and along with it the number of non-English-speaking children entering public schools. According to Thomas and Collier, "Language-minority students are predicted to account for about 40 percent of the school-age population by the 2030’s" (5). Bilingual programs in many areas have sparked a heated controversy, with many people claiming that non-English-speaking children, most notably Hispanics, are being disadvantaged by programs that simply don’t work.