Need for Bilingual Education - Essay Example

There has been a continued rise in the school population of “minority” students.

An article on University.com, “Bilingual Education - Need for Bilingual Education, Benefits of Bilingualism and Theoretical Foundations of Bilingual Education”, says that, per data from the 2000 US Census, there are more than 9.7 million children aged five to seventeen, or one out of six, who speak a language other than English at home. It further states that the years 1990 to 2000 saw a dramatic increase in the population of language-minority children, increasing to 55%, in contrast to only an 11% increase in the population of children from homes where only English is spoken. Such demographics led to the implementation of bilingual education programs.

            According to a brief historical account of bilingual education in America by The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th Edition, the Bilingual Education Act, which was passed in 1968 was reinforced by a Supreme Court decision in 1974. The Act mandates that due assistance be extended to students with limited English proficiency by providing instructions in the students’ native languages.

            However, the said law, and especially the substantial budget that it entails, has been the center of arguments and debates. From the same brief historical account by The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th Edition, groups grew to criticize the bilingual education program with claims that some students either refuse or are unable to join mainstream classes, among others. Moves to eliminate the bilingual program have been successful in California and Arizona, in 1998 and 2000, respectively.

            The elimination of bilingual education programs is not only discriminating, it also deprives the students with limited English proficiency of a proven effective way of acquiring their much-needed English proficiency. The claim of English-only advocates that bilingual education program is a dismal failure and therefore a waste of state resources, is an unfounded truth.

            Krashen, Stephen and McField, Grace, in their write-up “What Works? Reviewing the Latest Evidence on Bilingual Education”, published in the Language Learner, November/December 2005, p. 7-34, provide a comprehensive review and analysis of the various research findings proving the effectiveness of the bilingual education program in America.  Krashen and McField further stress that “study after study has reported that children in bilingual programs typically outperform their counterparts in all-English programs on tests of academic achievement in English”.

            In a May 8, 1998 issue of Time (for Kids), an article reports that even the then US Education Secretary Richard Riley does not favor the abolition of bilingual education. Commenting on the then-proposed abolition of the program in California, Riley stated that doing so would cause a good number of children to have difficulty coping, which would eventually lead them to fail.

            Reyes, Luis, as cited in an article in NYSUT News Wire, October 26, 2007,  explains that bilingual education conveys a message of giving the children civil right to their home language, that language is not a hindrance to equal education. He further stressed that languages other than English should not be seen as problems, instead, they should be regarded as resources. Learning a language, Reyes added, is easy “when it is sensible, relevant, interesting, belongs to the learner, and is presented to the student through choices. Language becomes hard to learn when it is artificial, dull, broken into pieces, belongs to someone else, and is out of the context of real communication”.