People in today's society have opposite opinions on how to approach the issue of bilingual education. The sides are split on the issue of teaching bilingual education in United States schools. There are many excellent points and arguments for each side of the tape. Personally, I chose to believe that we should keep bilingual education out of the United States because of the high cost to taxpayers. This process of teaching foreigners, most of them illegal immigrants, our language takes a long period of time and consumes a large amount of taxpayer money.
             The topic of bilingual education has many strong points in favor of having this enforced in the United States. The first argument I came across was about the effects of bilingual education on the English proficiency of foreign students. According to Stephen Krashen, students who were taught in English-as-a-second language (ESL) classes and through sheltered subject teaching scored higher in standardized testing (Krashen 1). To further back the point of higher test scores, in California they have a program named STAR which tests students in grades two through eight in writing, spelling, and math. The results of students tested that were actively enrolled in bilingual education courses, scored remarkably higher than students who weren't enrolled in bilingual education. Second-grade students who participated in the test averaged nine-percentage point better in reading, and 14 points better in math than those non-bilingual students (STAR 1). Students who score well on these tests often have programs designed around the student population and their needs (RPPI 1). These three arguments strongly push towards pro-bilingual education, but the opposition may change minds.
             The anti-bilingual arguments I found largely outnumbered the pro-bilingual statements. A few anti-bilingual information sources pushed me to believe on their behalf. According to the National Education Association, they be...