In my opinion, education is one of the most important things that an individual can do for him or herself. Without education, we would have a stagnant society. With that being said, I am torn between what in my mind I believe to be right and wrong. When it comes to an individual wanting to better their life through education, I stand behind them 100%. But if you’re going to do it in the United States, it should be mandatory to do it in English. In reference to immigrants not being able to better their lives in our educational system because of a language barrier, it makes me question if they really indeed want an education or a handout. In regards to bilingual education, I wonder why the United States should have to change its history and culture to more easily enable non-English-speaking citizens to acquire an education in an English-speaking country/society. I feel that bilingual education is an unneeded crutch for immigrants that do not respect the United States enough to learn its native language. Also, in my opinion, bilingual education can possibly make it more difficult for individuals once they reach higher grade levels of study, as well as in the job market.

Bilingual education has been around since the 1970s when educators, faced with a court decision, decided that using two languages for instruction –English and the individuals’ native language– was a good way to help children learn English while keeping up with their regular subjects. “When the civil-rights movement for African-Americans was at its height and Latino activists began to protest the damaging circumstances that led to unacceptably high proportions of school dropouts among Spanish-speaking children–more than 50 percent nationwide. Latino leaders borrowed the strategies of the civil-rights movement, calling for legislation to address the needs of Spanish-speaking children (Porter).” Basically, bilingual education is a special, tax funded effort to help immigrant children learn English so that they can do regular schoolwork with their English-speaking classmates and receive an equal educational opportunity.

“In theory, the children don’t fall behind in other subjects while they are learning English (Rothstein).” The problem that I have with this ideology is that a whole program has to be created to compensate for the fact that these kids do not know English. Discouraged enough by this “humanitarian program”, I also have a hard time understanding why these individuals make it more difficult on themselves; attempting to be educated in an English speaking educational system. The students’ parents should have the respect and responsibility to know that without English as a base language while living in the United States, their child is certain to learn in a much more difficult manner than an English-speaking child or student. I believe that the drive to want to learn English starts in the home.

Holding on to their native cultures, immigrants are coming into the United States and not accepting or adapting to American culture. Because the children are being taught they don’t have to learn our language, producing more non-English-speaking children is going to most likely reoccur when those children have children of their own. Rothstein brings up a good point in regards to this. “Today’s attempts to preserve immigrants’ native languages and cultures will not only balkanize the American melting pot but hurt the children upon whom bilingual education is imposed because their failure to learn English well will leave them unprepared for the workplace” (Rothstein). It just isn’t fair for these children to learn at such a young age that it’s OK not to do things the right way because we’ll just change the rules for you. It’s basically a slap in the face of our country and the faces of past immigrants who have been migrating to the United States for years. Those individuals progressed through our English speaking educational system and most excelled, because they had to.

For centuries immigrants have came from near and far to reap what the Americas have to offer. For them, I feel this was a sense of pride and recognition that they were going to become Americans regardless of where they were originally from. Their plans were to migrate, stay and make what they could of their lives in a different environment. Richard Rothstein states that, “In the early 20th century, public schools assimilated immigrants to American culture and imparted workplace skills essential for upward mobility. Children were immersed in English instruction and, when forced to “sink or swim,” they swam.” They “swam” because they needed to in order to make their lives better in the United States. There was no option, so they did what they had to do to survive in this country. Nowadays, our immigrants are migrating to reap the benefits, but in some cases have no desire to stay. Therefore, they don’t feel the need to adapt to our culture. I’m not saying that immigrants should completely forget about their own culture or not speak their native language; I’m just stating that if you are partaking in business, education, etc. in this country, you should speak the language of the country where those transactions are occurring.

After reading many documents on the subject of bilingual education, it seems to me that bilingual education can have more of a negative effect on a child than a positive one. Juana Zarzuela states, “My son has been in bilingual education for five years and in special education since 1994. [He] cannot read or write in English or Spanish,” she said (Chavez and Lyons). Carmen Quinones complained, “My son is in ninth grade and has been in bilingual education since he entered the school system. My son is confused between Spanish and English” (Chavez and Lyons). “I kept seeing kids doing poorly in the upper grades after they had gone through bilingual education,” said Virginia Martinez, a former bilingual educator in Santa Ana. “There was no transition to English. I felt that bilingual education was holding them back” (Hirsch in Lays). Of course, this is no more than a sample of the population but indeed accurate data.

In conclusion, I feel that it would be much easier for the immigrants entering the United States to just bite the bullet and learn the language of that country they are entering; which, will in turn move them forward in that country regardless if it’s the United States or not. The more I think about it, the refusal or laziness to do so is just regressing immigrants’ optimal potential which the majority of human beings possess. I believe that if the United States continues to pick up their “Slack” it will only make it more difficult for years to come.

Mathew Kleinhans
Woodland, California