Bilingual Education

A detailed Summary of Bilingual Education

For decades, immigrant children have been taught in their native languages in schools across the country while slowly and simultaneously receiving English as a second language. But like anything, bilingual education is not without its flaws. In fact, it's plagued with them. After many years of bilingual education in the United States, one thing is certain: it does not work, and it is failing America's immigrant youth.

The idea behind bilingual education is that students be taught "academic subjects" such as math, geography, and science. Students learn English as a second language and learn all other subjects in their native language so that, in theory, they can keep up with their English- speaking peers. After five to seven years the time the students are transitioned into classes which are taught in English . This is, of course, how bilingual education should work in theory. This is not, however, the case. Critics of bilingual education say that the objectives of the classes are confused, the quality of instruction is poor, and the transition time, when students transition into regular classes, is slowly.

Critics believe that the goals of bilingual education have been forgotten and replaced wit

It is important to have an understanding of English when living in the United States, after all, according to the 1990 census, 94 percent of U. S. residents speak it, to some degree. One cannot learn English, however if one does not stay in school. Unfortunately, a recent national study found that students enrolled in bilingual programs dropped out earlier. Also, the percentage of students who make the transition from bilingual to regular classes is very low. Last year in California, for example, only about 6.7 percent of the non- English- speakers moved into regular classes. This is evidence that bilingual education is not working. The problem is not just in California. Other states have similar low success rates. Most of the focus is on California, however, since 1.4 million of the nation's 3.2 million LEP (limited English proficient) students live there.

In California, where statewide 140 languages are spoken, people are fed up with the current bilingual education system and have taken steps to change it with Proposition 227, which will reduce instruction in any language but English. Like everywhere else in the country, most California LEP students are Hispanic. And even they want an end to bilingual education. In fact, the results of a California newspaper poll showed that among Hispanic voters alone, 84 percent favored and end to bilingual education (West 48). Most Hispanics think that learning English is more important than instruction in their native l

Some common words found in the essay are:
Bilingual Education, Hispanic LEP, California LEP, Spanish English, bilingual education, learn english, lep students, students learn english, learning english, native language, students learn, english language, immigrant youth, english- speaking, regular classes,

Approximate Word count = 995
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English