Should Bilingual Education Be Terminated in the Schools?

Running head : SHOULD BILINGUAL EDUCATION

Should Bilingual Education Be Terminated In The Schools

Author 's name

Author 's affiliation

Outline

Thesis Statement

Introduction

How Language Is Acquired

Ineffective Bilingual Programs

Meeting the Needs of English Learners

The Beauty of Dual-Language Education

Conclusion

Recommendations for Education Leaders

References

Should Bilingual Education Be Terminated In The Schools

Thesis Statement

No , bilingual education should not be terminated in the schools

Introduction

This provides arguments favoring bilingual education in the schools

In the United

States , bilingual education has been defined by educators as "an education program for children whose native language is not English (Definition of Bilingual Education , N /A ) and is most commonly linked with the use of Spanish and English in the classroom . Native language is taught to children for a portion of the day , and then they are moved into English-speaking classes when they have developed some proficiency in English . There is no controversy about the goal of bilingual education : to graduate students who are both well educated and proficient in English , who can compete in the job market , and lead productive lives as American citizens . The controversy centers on how best to achieve this goal

As demographic changes are occurring in the United States , growth is observed regarding bilingualism in recent years (Cummins , 1993 . Data suggest that these and other nonnative-English speakers experience considerable difficulty succeeding in school . For example , Hispanic students have the highest overall high school dropout rate approximately 30 , of any ethnic group in the United States (U .S Department of Commerce , Bureau of the Census , Current Population Study 1995 . Approximately 46 of foreign-born Hispanics drop out of high school . In some instances , these recent immigrants may have had limited formal school experience prior to coming to the United States , thus sometimes preventing them from ever enrolling in American schools (Ovando Collier , 1998 . Further , limitations in their ability to communicate in English likely poses a serious barrier for some Hispanic youth to attend school (U .S . Department of Commerce , Bureau of the Census , Current Population Study , 1995 . Overall , it appears that unless public schools include programs designed to appropriately address the second-language-learning needs of Hispanic and other language-minority students , a significant number of students may continue to struggle throughout their academic years or leave school altogether

Non-English speaking immigrants have always been a part of American society , but their numbers and native cultures have changed . During the 1990s , the population of students who are "English language learners increased 105 percent , while the general school population only grew by 12 percent . Surveys indicate that these students speak more than 460 languages , and many are from vastly different cultures . This has created a problem , unprecedented in its size and complexity , for American educators

The issue is one of civil rights . Quite simply , it is a violation of civil rights under the 1964 Civil Rights Act to place non-English speaking children in a classroom where they are treated the same as their classmates . The U .S . Supreme Court issued...