Bilingual Education Essay

A deeper sense of xenophobia has descended on the States recently. The sleepy agrestic town of Pahrump, NV, reflected this animosity when it passed an ordinance that made side the official actors line and made it illegal to display foreign let ups without an accompanying American let up (Curtis, 2006). In an act of civil disobedience, both Pahrump residents placed a gloss flag and an Italian flag (in reference to their own ancestry) on their front line porch (Curtis, 2006). Vandals drenched the Italian flag with eggs overnight (the Italian flag looks similar to the Mexican flag).A major(ip)ity of the voting citizens of Pahrump would take downtually annul the polarizing ordinance. This incident reflects a salient truth legion(predicate) monolingual Americans flavor uncomfortable with the influx of Spanish-speaking peoples be get word of the perceived lack of assimilation by Latinos. This xenophobic atmosphere has trickled onto the realm of working a movement for the rea soning by elimination of multilingualist fosterage in public schools has gained more attention recently. Proponents beseech that using native Australian quarrels in the classroom impedes national unity (Brisk, 1998).Others smelling that multilingualist discipline impedes learning. This research base examines a possible cause of the anti-bilingual movement. It also examines well-nigh arguments and counter arguments of bilingual education. Although by definition bilingual education may include side and any foreign style, this make-up taperes on the Spanish-speaking population because of the perception more have close the Latino confederation that it resists conforming to American culture. Such sen prison termnts have contributed to the anti-bilingual education movement that has descended in many parts of America.This is unfortunate because bilingual education programs actually promote assimilation into mainstream American society. bilingualist precept 3 The bilingu al education debate, as acknowledgmented in the introductory paragraph, has garnished more talk lately because of an new(prenominal) hot button issue immigration. Newscasts often winking images of illegal aliens crossing our borders. galore(postnominal) talk projects often feature sparkly debates concerning issues of the undocumented workforce. The immigration debate finally sparked a monolithic protest in 20006 with the Day Without an Immigrant boycott that would affect American schools and businesses (Lendon, 2006).The idea of bilingual education has inevitably entered the debate. Editorial writers often slip in their stances on bilingual education when discussing immigration issues. Pugnacious talk show hosts such as Rush Limbaugh often host acidic debates on bilingualism in the United States. This issue forget certainly not unfreeze any time curtly. What many opponents of bilingual education fail to mention is that there is an elephant in the room xenophobia. Many mon olingual citizens aid that American culture as they know it is morphing into something foreign.Considering Americas productive, colorful immigrant history, this fear baffles the heed. Why would the descendants of Poles, Germans, Czechs, Italians, and other European immigrants express such concerns? Critics of Americas evolving culture should focus on the similarities amongst the immigrants of their ancestors and the plight of instantlys average immigrant. Many of Americas ancestors landed on our shores at the turn of the 20th century (Calderon, Slavin, 2001). Their European ancestors, like at presents immigrants, had the similar dreams that many of todays immigrants have to pull out the abyss of poverty or war.Although many immigrants faced linguistic and ethnical obstacles, many witnessed their children succeed in school and acquire economic security. accord to Calderon and Slaven Bilingual pedagogics 4 (2001), School is the ladder by which children of immigrants turn ou t out of poverty and into mainstream society (p. 8). The goal of the immigrants of yesteryear was clearly to engross by means of a quality education. If education is a major ingredient for assimilation of immigrants into mainstream society, then society should embrace bilingual education. A starting point is literacy, since necessitateing cuts across all academic subjects.An efficient strategy involves using a childs native spoken oral communication in literacy instruction. We generally acquire reading skills by reading (Smith, 1994). By providing a child with reading material in his/her primary spoken terminology, we admit the disciple with a healthier, stronger academic base from which to build on. Once a child acquires these basic skills such as identifying phonic blends in his/her vex tongue, the student digests the given topic easier. Equipped with reading and content experience skills, the transition into literacy in a second language then becomes fine-textured for the English language pupil.Truly, a childs native language is the best initial medium of instruction (Brisk,1998). I did not realize how important using a childs native language was until I experienced an obstacle with a native Spanish loudspeaker several years ago. Using only English, I was trying to apprise a student fresh from Mexico the concept of active and linking verbs. I soon realized that she had never learned these basics about her own native language, let alone grammar of the English language. I soon resorted to training her grammar in Spanish.After she mastered the subject, I transitioned what she learned into the initial English lesson that I had tried teaching her earlier. This experience lends credence to the point that scholars make children liquid have a roofy to learn about their Bilingual Education 5 native tongue upon entering American schools (Brisk, 1998). Despite the situation that research supports using native languages as a tool for literacy, many c ontinue their resistance to bilingual education they argue for an all-English atmosphere in schools. An indirect but serious consequence of this approach is thepsychological effect it may have on many Hispanics. Many agree that language is a key component of every culture (Blanc, 2000). By reject Spanish from the classroom, the special(a) English proficient (LEP) student may go through that his or her native language or culture has less range than the mainstream culture. This may invoke a sense of inferiority in the mind of many Hispanics and may cause strife among contrastive ethnicities. Ironically, this moves many Latinos forth from the assimilation ideal, which opponents of bilingual education do not want.In sum full(a) to affecting the morale of the LEP community, eliminating bilingual education programs may increase the already sky-high Hispanic high school drop-out rate. Lack of academic supremacy is one reason Hispanic youths quit school (Lockwood, 1996). By removi ng their limited access to research-based programs such as bilingual education, they may suffer even less academic success. Eventually, this may produce a Hispanic community full of low-skilled, poorly educated people. In other words, it may produce a subclass.Again, this moves Hispanics amodal value from the assimilation goal cherished by many Americans. Regardless of the benefits of bilingual education, anti-bilingual sentiments continue percolating. Some resort to using other Latinos as a means for obtaining their anti-bilingual agenda. Some cite Richard Rodriguezs In Hunger of Memory the Bilingual Education 6 Education of Richard Rodriguez as a case against bilingual education (Krashen, 2007). Rodriguez, a Mexican immigrant, enjoyed bulky academic success and assimilated into American society despite the lack of bilingual education.Some average Hispanics parallel Rodriquezs anti-bilingual education stances. Forty-three-year-old waitress Ana Julia Duncan, daughter of Mexican na tionals, received minimal bilingual services in the triad grade (personal communication). Despite this fact, academically she performed moderately well (personal communication). Because of her success in school, Duncan feels that bilingualism has little value I didnt speak English when I started school. I did OK. Why cant anybody else do OK? Unfortunately, her way of thinking strikes a familiar chord with other Latinos in her similar situation.The Rodriquez and Duncan stories seem to act as support for the elimination of bilingual education. However, uncomplete person represent the average, modern English language learner. In Rodriquezs case, he grew up in a predominately white neighborhood (Kreshen, 2007). As a result, he was exposed to the English language a lot more than the average Spanish speaker. Since a childs socio-cultural purlieu plays a major role in his or her intellectual reading (Gregory, 2004), Rodriguezs success should not surprise many. His peers, in essence, acted as quasi-tutors.Duncans situation parallels Rodriguezs upbringing she too grew up in a mainly white neighborhood (personal communication). Therefore she too received unceremonious training or input from her peers. A majority of Hispanic LEP students, by contrast, live in predominately Spanish-speaking neighborhoods and lack the advantages Rodriguez and Duncan had as children (Kreshen, 2007). Bilingual Education 7 Despite the flaws in using Rodriguez and Duncan as microcosms in the bilingual education debate, some nevertheless insist in a total immersion approach in our schools.Although total immersion has no believable supporting evidence (Crawford, 2007), from a personal point of view, it does have a tinge of value. I had virtually no English-speaking skills as a very young child. My parents were Mexican nationals my father worked at the post fleck while my mother stayed at home with the children. Thus, I had virtually no exposure to English. Upon entering my predominantly white kindergarten class in 1970, I realized that I was basically on my own since there were no other Latino children in that particular class.However, this sink or swim situation had a benefit. Within a year, I spoke informal English. By the first grade, I became fairly fluent in English and would earn average grades. In my opinion, total immersion did play a role in my acquiring salient English skills. Unfortunately, by the time I reached the second grade, I felt as if I illogical a part of my identity I lost a unspoilt deal of my native language. I forgot some major Spanish vocabulary words, I started having trouble pronouncing many polysyllabic words, and I had developed a slight gringo accent.Mexican children noticed this and would often make fun of my unwieldy Spanish. To make things worse, my English skills still needed improvement. The presence of bilingual education may have prevented some of my linguistic obstacles by helping me champion a healthy language base in b oth English and Spanish. Luckily, some of my teachers noticed my problem and placed me in a bilingual program along with three other students. One was in the same situation as myself the Bilingual Education 8other two were predominately proficient in Spanish who lacked major English skills. The bilingual teacher helped us maintain our strengths and helped correct our weaknesses by using our native language as a medium for instruction. By the end of the school year, I felt more confident. This research paper starts out with an anecdote that depicts a rural Nevada town struggling with xenophobia it had voted in an English-only ordinance. Then, a connection between xenophobia in America and the anti-bilingual education movement is give awayed.Despite the fact that some school districts have pupils from as many as 130 different countries (Crawford, 2004), this paper focuses on the Spanish speaking English language learner because of a major criticism the Hispanic community endures that it resists assimilation into the mainstream American culture. A solution for the this problem is the elimination of bilingual education programs in public schools. Proponents claim this would strengthen national unity. However, as this research paper demonstrates, purging such programs would actually gear the Hispanic English language learner away from assimilation, not towards it.If many opponents of bilingualism have their way, American schools will eventually have a monolithic, cookie-cutter approach to teaching its student population. In the United States, a country made from a rich tapestry of immigrants, this scenario would be very un-American. Bilingual Education 9 References Blanc, M. H. A. , & Hamers, J. (2000). Bilinguality and Bilingualism. England Cambridge University Press. thick This countersign is a very elevated, academic piece of work. It provides the reader with a guideline to language behavior, tools to measure levels of bilingualism, and addresses bilingual d evelopment.Other areas the book concentrates on include the cognitive development of the bilingual mind, and the cognitive consequences of the bilingual behavior. Brisk, M. E. (1998) Bilingual Education From Compensatory to Quality Education. Mahway, New Jersey Cambridge University Press. Summary This book examines the handed-down debates about bilingual education. It also examines influences, both internal and external, on the bilingual students education. The author presents strategies for implementing quality bilingual services. Calderon, M. , & Slavin, R. (2001).Effective Programs for Latino Students. Mahway, New Jersey Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Summary This book highlights programs that have worked well for the Hispanic population. It also addresses the unacceptable high drop-out rate of Latino high school students. The book goes a step further by unveiling the demand of higher-education for Hispanics, an area that has received relatively little attention. The authors also explain why many Latinos are at risk in America. Curtis, Lynette. (2006, Nov. 15). Pahrump Targets Illegal Immigrants. The Las Vegas reexamine Journal.Curtis, Lynette. (2006, Nov. 23). Backlash Pahrump flag ban wont fly. The Las Vegas Review Journal. Lockwood, A. T. Caring, Community, and Personalization Strategies to charge the Hispanic Dropout Problem. (1996). Advances in Hispanic Education, 1. Washington, DC U. S. Department of Education. Summary This book focuses on the dangerously real issue of the Latino dropout issue. T Gregory, E. , Long, S. , & Volk. (2004). Many Pathways to Literacy Young Children Learning with Siblings, Grandparents, Peers, and Communities. New York Routledge Falmer.Summary This book looks at literacy, including bilingual literacy, using a sociocultural approach. It taps into the family structure in respective(a) ethnic groups. The book addresses bilingual education in the home and highlights the benefits of this strategy. The authors unveil the impo rtance of using cultural norms as a means to teach literacy (such as story-telling). Another aspect of this piece is its assessment of childrens customary life experience and how that impacts learning. On a personal note, this book didnt really catch my eye at first because it didnt focus on Hispanics specifically.I am happy that I finally loose it up because I was able to see some parallels between the Hispanic experiences and other ethnic groups. Krashen, Stephen. ( 1997). Why Bilingual Education? Eric Digest. Retrieved April 4, 2006 from http//www. ericdigests. org/1997-3/bilingual. html. Lendon, Brad. (2006, May 1). US prepares for A Day Without an Immigrant. Retrieved on April 4, 2007, from http//www. cnn. com/2006/US/04/28/boycott/ Smith, F. (1994). arrangement reading A psycholinguistic analysis of reading and learning to read (5th ed. ). Hillsdale, NJ L. Erlbaum. .