http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Columns/2010/08/25/Bilingual-Education-Does-Not-Work

The article “Bilingual Education Does Not Work” by Liz Peek, The Fiscal Times lays out reasons why bilingual education is not helpful or beneficial. She talks about how expensive it is to implicate, how important English is in the world, how it would put teachers at risk, and provides information on a different strategy called “structured Immersion” that she agrees with. There were things within this article that I both agreed and disagreed with. This article helped me see the topic in a different light and think critically.

One thing in this article I agreed with was the idea that Bilingual Ed is too expensive. Peek states “The fiscal 2010 budget appropriation for the Office of English Language Acquisition totaled $750 million and the request for the upcoming year is $800 million.” Hundreds more dollars would have to be spent on each student if Bilingual Ed was implemented.  Government funds are low as is, especially in regards to public education so this would probably be a major obstacle. Another aspect of this article I agree with is that Bilingual Ed puts many teachers in a bad situation. Although it is not really talked about much, I can imagine that this would be really hard for teachers. With more money needed in the schools, teachers would probably be laid off and many of them wouldn’t be able to keep their jobs if they weren’t capable of teaching in more than one language. One thing that is frequently stressed throughout the article is how important English is. “English is the official language of 63 countries. More than 80 percent of all technological information is published in English and it is the language of almost all software source codes. It’s essential that anyone hoping to compete in the global economy master English.” It is very clear that English is a dominant language and I agree that all students should be thoroughly learning it so that they may be successful in America and the rest of the world. Lastly, I agree with the idea of Structured Immersion. “children initially are taught English in separate classrooms for part of the day, along with others who grow up speaking a different language at home, but are quickly thrust into classrooms where the teaching is in English.” I think this would benefit most people because it wouldn’t hold the English speakers back, wouldn’t require more of the classroom teacher, and would help the English learner get on track, without being completely forced into an English classroom with no experience. However, I do think that the English students should be required to take a language class as well, perhaps during the time that the English learners are out of the classroom.

I definitely did not entirely agree with this article. I found it to be very biased and one-sided. It was difficult for me to trust the author’s opinion because of her strong, narrow-minded views that she made very clear and obvious. She rarely brought up the other side of the argument, which ultimately made her side weaker. Peek made it seem that English is the only important language in the World. Although I do believe it is an extremely important language, I don’t think that if students only learn English they will be able to compete well in the global market. Several jobs today require language skills other than English. Also, English isn’t even the official language of the US.  I also thought many of Peeks arguments could’ve been elaborated further. Lastly, I don’t quite understand her statement “kids should not be separated by language and ethnicity; they’ll never catch up.” I don’t see how this aligns with her argument since she is very against Bilingual Education.

After reading this article I have much more insight on this topic and what I should look further into from here on out. I definitely will look into different programs like Structured Immersion and look at the costs of these program’s and how they may be funded. I also would like to know what is necessary to implement different programs so I can get a better idea of what may be the most reasonable solution. Lastly, I would like to look at more recent findings and find studies that show the results of various programs.

According to the United States Census Bureau of 2011, 60.6 million people aged 5 and over out of 291.5 million spoke a language other than English at home. It is obvious that America, being the melting pot of the world with no official language will have several languages being spoken within it. As a prospective Elementary school teacher, the topic of Bilingual Education is very relevant to me. I am interested in this topic because the classrooms of today are extremely diverse. It will be my job to be able to have all the students in my class understand curriculum, as well as prepare them for the rest of their lives. As a student here at the University of Delaware, I participate in mentoring at the Latin American Community Center. This has provided me with some insight on the topic and peaked my interest even further. I have also learned about this topic in my education class Cultural Diversity, Schooling, and The Teacher.

One question that Mr. Palmer had asked was “what does it mean when a country with no official language (that’s America, by the way) cannot meet the needs of its populace because of public sediment?” This is a good question because it brings up a lot of controversy. In my opinion, since we don’t have an official language it seems that we should be more accommodating for those with other languages and even promote the use of more languages. English is the most widely spoken language, however our government has never made it official as our national language. Due to this, it doesn’t seem right that people who cannot speak English are being ostracized for it. If English was our official language, it would make more sense to me why people should be forced to learn English if they are a citizen of our Nation. This ties into schooling. If a child only spoke another language at home because their family was never required to learn English, it seems that as a Nation with no official language we should be able to educate this child and help them. Also, since we don’t have an official language, children should be educated in more than one so they are better prepared and skilled in the diverse country and world we live in today. It is obvious that English is a very important and prominent language in our nation, however we should not be stripping children of their native languages and only teaching them English. The students today will be the leaders of tomorrow and with rapidly growing international business it seems that we should promote the use and educating of other languages.

“Young children have a much easier time with language acquisition, so as the world gets smaller through international trade and digital technologies, isn’t this a great time to have young children learning two languages?” Although it is commonly believed that children have an easier time learning a new language, this is not true. However, this doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t start young. It is said that younger children are more capable of having a native tongue and pronouncing things in the correct ways when they learn an additional language. Children also have more of a natural curiosity about learning that helps them acquire new languages more readily. In addition, children who learn a foreign language actually show certain cognitive advantages over those who don’t, as well as lessen certain risks later in life such as Alzheimer’s.

Here is an article that discusses some of the cognitive benefits of learning a foreign language as a child: http://www.actfl.org/advocacy/discover-languages/for-parents/cognitive