Bilingual Education
Bilingual education should not be required in our nation's schools.This does not mean, it should be noted, that foreign language educationshould be banned, not that supplemental or resource room help in theEnglish language should not be accorded to students who require suchassistance. However, bilingual education programs more often than notrequire a long period of assimilation for students of immigrant status, orparentage, whereby part of the day is taught in English
It is thisform of duality of educational environments that must be avoided, sochildren are not subjected to a further bifurcation of home and Americanidentity, of parental and educational attitudes in culture and in language. Moreover, even if bilingual tutoring can be offered, by request,as a form of resource room help, to make required bilingual education forall secondary English speakers a 'must' normalizes ESL as part of amainstream curriculum, thus creating a lack of an incentive to speakEnglish every day in school. and part of therest of the day is taught in that student's native language. However, quite oftensuch children's parents do wish them to become assimilated intocontemporary American culture and to succeed-and to succeed in the jobmarket of today requires strong English language skills in a variety ofsubjects. ESLrudimentary tutoring can cause a Cambodian and a Dominican immigrant childto bond over the common language they are struggling with-but a bilingualenvironment merely creates a comfort zone of language as well as communityfor children-but an artificial comfort zone that does not accomplish theultimate purpose of schooling, to prepare children for the multiculturalworld of tomorrow. It is argued that it is difficult, and an added burden, for studentswho speak a different language in the home than English to acquire a levelof certain mathematical or scientific proficiency. Bilingual education isolates children, ultimately, within a smallercommunity than the pluralistic English-speaking environment.
Common topics in this essay:
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Cambodian Dominican,
bilingual education,
comfort zone,
english language,
resource help,
day taught,
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Acceptance Essays
