Studies show that bilingual high school and college students are academically superior to their monolingual counterparts (Carter 202). Dr. B. McLaughlin, one of the leading researchers of bilingual children concluded in his 1978 study, "The bilingual child has a sense of prestige and accomplishment a monolingual child lacks. Knowledge of an additional language stimulates educational e

One of the main reasons more programs are not in place is due to the misconception that raising children in a bilingual environment is harmful to a child's development (Crawford 14). Studies conducted early in the twentieth century concluded that bilingual children can not compete academically with monolingual children, that an insurmountable language barrier exists, hindering development. Over the course of many years of more research, this conclusion has been proven to be completely false (Benefits 6). Research shows that what a child learns in one language, carries over to the other (Rhodes 38). The grammar, syntax, vocabulary, etc, learned in one language, has been proven to aid in the development of the second. Research has proven that is makes no difference which language is learned first; hence the reason for immersion programs. They are proven to be harmless to a child's language development, while, in essence, making them smarter than their monolingual peers.

schools should adopt immersion programs, but it is necessary for the option to exist in all areas of the country.

The current education system of the United States is constantly criticized for lack of performance and the failure to keep up with the school systems in the industrialized countries of Europe. Europeans schools begin teaching English in the primary levels of education. In order to excel and surpass schools in Europe, perhaps the United States needs to consider immersion programs the answer. The negative comparison between American and European schools exist. One of the main differences is the timing of the introduction of a foreign language. Because the success of the immersion programs a

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Approximate Word count = 1140
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)