Arguments Against Bilingual Education

In the United States, education is primarily taught in only one language: English. There is a fear, or rather prejudice, from the American people that if a non-native English speaking student wants to continue learning in their native language, then that means they are rejecting any form of assimilation into our culture. And yet this opinion is from the minority, which is good because that means the majority of the people support bilingual education. However, despite the majorities’ opinion, bilingual education is seemingly a problem here, in the U.S., unlike other countries. Is there really a problem with helping non-native English speakers by giving them the aid they need to succeed in our schools? Or encouraging native English speaking students to engage into another language? We, as students and future leaders of America, can benefit from bilingual education and language immersion.

“Bilingual education is a program that consists of offering students’ instruction in their native language, while also having classes that promote learning the language of the school” (Ginsburg). These programs can also include teaching another language for native speakers of the school

language who want to learn a second language. Being bilingual, or becoming bilingual, is not only cool, it is also effective in the workforce and in everyday life. Societies are becoming more immersed with each other that many countries teach their students two languages, throughout their school careers.
Take for example Canada, which in Jill Ginsburg's article, she demonstrates that they have two official languages—French and English—and it is emphasized that both are taught in school.

This can help grow the opportunities that are out in the world for the Canadian students. And according to Pearson, in 2014 Canada was ranked 4th in education out of 40 countries, with the U.S. included ranking at 14th (“Index”); which bilingualism may have contributed to their achievement. And in addition to Canada, there have also been countries with only one official language, yet they encourage their school systems to teach another language: countries such as Great Britain (Ginsburg). These countries aren’t just teaching other languages, but are also in fact teaching the linguistics’ culture that comes with

it.
By all means, while bilingual education is greatly viewed as controversial and demanding in the United States, most countries view the use of a second language as a fundamental part of their general educational and a substantial part to their international position and presence (Ginsburg). Bilingualism seems to be working for other countries—nationwide—so we could at least try it here too. There has even been studies that show that bilingual programs can have positive outcomes for non-native English speakers. For instance, Claude Goldenberg and Kirstin Wagnor reports a recent inclusive study that finds students who are enrolled in bilingual programs since elementary school are more likely to be regarded as accomplished in English than those who have been in an all-English program, which was conducted by two Stanford University researchers (Goldenberg and Wagnor). This study displays what good comes out of a bilingual program—its effectiveness.
Consider this: Sarah Sparks writes that Dual-language-immersion students in Portland, Ore., outperformed their peers in English-reading skills by a full school years’ worth of learning by the end of middle school (Sparks). This could help the U.S. in their ranking in education compared to other countries. There is a great variety of languages, here in the U.S. alone, to explore and learn from. This country is made up of diverse cultures and they are in all parts of nation. Though, some languages do stand out more than others (Spanish remains the most popular for immersion programs at 45 percent), there is a wide array of languages (Anderson).
These diversities will continue to increase, and while other countries are going along with it, we shouldn’t reject it, but rather grow with it. As Goldenberg and Wagnor have noted, despite the evidence that bilingual education can actually boost achievement in English, or at a minimum not detract from it, many continue to subscribe to the “commonsense” logic that English-only instruction will lead to faster acquisition of English proficiency. The U.S. is already behind in the ranking in education, so why continue with that pattern in being behind in diversity? Even when it has been agreed upon that people who know more than one language tend to stand out among employers. Communication is key in a global economy and being bilingual can be crucial. Plus, there are advantages to being bilingual—such as, you get to speak in another language whenever you don’t want people to understand your conversation.