Bilingual Education Essay, Research Paper

Lo siento se?or. No he aprendido hablar ingl?s. No puedo ayudarlo. (I’m sorry Sir. I didn’t learn to speak English. I can’t help you.) When visiting McDonald’s and having a non-English speaking person taking your order, one becomes frustrated with the lack of appreciation for learning English. Today, schools in Arizona no longer have true bilingual education classes; they have almost all Spanish instruction with limited English instruction. From the time bilingual education for Spanish was instituted in 1973, it has been ineffective in assimilating non-English speaking students into the English-speaking American society.

The bilingual education programs that are in existence now are not completely successful. In these classes, the teachers are teaching in mostly Spanish and very limited English. When the non-English speaking students are put in to a separate class, they are segregated and are not assimilated with the English-speaking students. This keeps them from learning in an English only situation, which makes them learn English faster. This also prevents English speaking students from not knowing total extent of culture and background of peers in their own schools. In addition to that, it doesn’t give non-English students a reason to really learn English if they are going to be taught in their native tongue most of the time. When that happens, it hurts those students in the long run. They won’t know enough English to communicate in the American society, and they’ll be doomed if they can’t live in the American society. Richard E. Ferraro, “When you’re talking about language,” he argued, “English is essential for success in this country.”

Another reason that bilingual education does not work, is that it does not function the way it was originally intended to. Bilingual education is to be thought of “as no more than a transitional bridge to assimilation” (Duignan). Bilingual education was formed so the majority of time English would be the language taught in and the native tongue of the students would be limited. Using this method, the students learn English faster and can work with the rest of their English speaking peers. If the two amounts of languages are switched so that there is mostly Spanish and limited English, then the learning would go at a slower pace. English is needed here in America and keeping these children from learning it just hurts them. If English is learned at a slower pace, it will not be learned to the proficiency that is needed. “When you’re talking about language, English is essential for success in this country” (Ferraro)

A third reason why the bilingual education system in place now isn’t doing its job, is that there are many students who abuse the system too easily and they get away with it.

Bilingual educators were accused of disregarding such developments; they often admitted children who were proficient in English to bilingual programs and kept them there too long. A U.S. Office of Education?sponsored investigation of thirty-eight bilingual projects for Hispanic Americans judged that about 70 percent of the pupils involved used English rather than Spanish for the purpose of taking tests. (Duignan)

These children stay in the bilingual classes because they go at a slower rate and they don’t have to do as much work in these classes either. “The system they have right now gives students no incentive to actually learn English, and many people graduate still not speaking English” (Garnaat). If this system is being abused so much and the kids are getting away with it, then why isn’t it changed? That’s what Proposition 203 is going to do. It’s going to change the existing bilingual education systems into one year immersion programs. These programs will make the non-English speaking students learn English and keep them in English speaking classrooms.

Overcrowding in schools today forces English only speaking students to be in a class full on non-English speaking students. It is not the job of the one or two English speaking kids to teach the non-English speaking students. The kids do not know how to go about communicating with them and they don’t know the native tongue of the non-English speaking students. They also don’t have the credentials. Most parents would not want their children taught by uncertified people, and that’s what would happen in this situation. Although, if the converse happens, it is a good thing. Putting a few non-English speaking students in an all English class makes them learn English faster in order to communicate with their peers. If these students are given a good reason to learn English and are put in a good situation, they will learn it. If the English speaking students are placed in a non-English speaking class because of overcrowding, it’s going to hurt them and the non-English speaking students, too. The English speaking students won’t be able to concentrate on just English and the rest of their normal classes because of the odd situation. Non-English speaking students won’t have all of the attention they need to learn English and both will learn at a slower pace and be behind.

The last reason that bilingual education programs aren’t good is that they are wasting the US’s citizen’s tax dollars. If a program in our community that doesn’t work, then why should money be wasted to pay for it? Looking at all of the reasons why this current bilingual system doesn’t work, why would one want to continue to pay for it? $12-$15 billion is to go to bilingual education programs right out of taxes. That is about 35% of tax money that goes down the drain. Peter Duignan said that “bilingual education was judged a failure by many experts and an expensive one at that” (Duignan) If these programs were updated and made to fit the students now, they wouldn’t be money wasters.

The current bilingual education program in ineffective in teaching non-English students English and assimilating them into the English-speaking American society. It’s ineffectiveness is seen in the students not learning English, or being able to speak it; students who are capable of speaking English abusing the system because it’s an easy way out; and the waste of money the current system is.

Works Cited

Duignan, Peter. “Bilingual Education: A Critique.” Hoover Institute. http://www-hoover.stanford.edu/publications/he/22/22c.html

Ferraro, Richard E. “Bilingual Education: A Critique.” Hoover Institute. http://www-hoover.stanford.edu/publications/he/22/22c.html

Garnaat, Sarah L. Personal Interview. 21 November 2000.

Duignan, Peter. “Bilingual Education: A Critique.” Hoover Institute. http://www-hoover.stanford.edu/publications/he/22/22c.html

Ferraro, Richard E. “Bilingual Education: A Critique.” Hoover Institute. http://www-hoover.stanford.edu/publications/he/22/22c.html

Garnaat, Sarah L. Personal Interview. 21 November 2000.