Bilingual Education Essay Example for Free

Bilingual procreation EssayA deeper sense of xenophobia has descended on America recently. The sleepy rural township of Pahrump, NV, reflected this animosity when it passed an ordinance that made side of meat the official lecture and made it illegal to display foreign signs without an accompanying American flag (Curtis, 2006). In an dissemble of civil disobedience, deuce Pahrump residents placed a Polish flag and an Italian flag (in theatrical role to their own ancestry) on their front porch (Curtis, 2006). Vandals drenched the Italian flag with eggs overnight (the Italian flag looks similar to the Mexican flag). A majority of the voting citizens of Pahrump would razetually overturn the polarizing ordinance. This incident reflects a conspicuous truth nigh monolingual Americans feel uncomfortable with the influx of Spanish-speaking peoples because of the perceived lack of preoccupation by Latinos. This xenophobic atmosphere has trickled onto the realm of informatio n a movement for the elimination of bilingual education in public cultivates has gained more attention recently. Proponents argue that using native manner of speakings in the classroom impedes star sign(a) unity (Brisk, 1998).Others feel that bilingual education impedes l inviteing. This research base examines a possible cause of the anti-bilingual movement. It alike examines some arguments and counter arguments of bilingual education. Although by definition bilingual education whitethorn include incline and any foreign language, this paper focuses on the Spanish-speaking population because of the perception many have somewhat the Hispanic community that it resists conforming to American culture. Such sentiments have contributed to the anti-bilingual education movement that has descended in many parts of America.This is unfortunate because bilingual education programs in truth promote assimilation into mainstream American society. Bilingual statement 3 The bilingual educati on debate, as mentioned in the introductory paragraph, has garnished more dialogue lately because of some other(a) hot button coming back immigration. Newscasts a lot flash images of illegal aliens crossing our borders. many a(prenominal) talk conveys often feature lively debates concerning effects of the undocumented workforce. The immigration debate finally sparked a massive dissent in 20006 with the Day Without an Immigrant boycott that would affect American schools and businesses (Lendon, 2006).The topic of bilingual education has inevitably entered the debate. chromatography column writers often slip in their stances on bilingual education when discussing immigration issues. Pugnacious talk show hosts much(prenominal) as Rush Limbaugh often host acidic debates on bilingualism in the get together States. This issue will certainly non evaporate any time briefly. What many opponents of bilingual education discover to mention is that there is an elephant in the room xe nophobia. Many monolingual citizens fear that American culture as they know it is morphing into something foreign.Considering Americas rich, colorful immigrant history, this fear baffles the mind. Why would the descendants of Poles, Germans, Czechs, Italians, and other European immigrants testify such concerns? Critics of Americas evolving culture should focus on the similarities between the immigrants of their ancestors and the plight of todays average immigrant. Many of Americas ancestors landed on our shores at the turn of the 20th vitamin C (Calderon, Slavin, 2001). Their European ancestors, like todays immigrants, had the same dreams that many of todays immigrants have to thrash the abyss of poverty or war.Although many immigrants faced linguistic and cultural obstacles, many witnessed their children succeed in school and acquire economic security. According to Calderon and Slaven Bilingual Education 4 (2001), School is the ladder by which children of immigrants climb out of poverty and into mainstream society (p. 8). The goal of the immigrants of yesteryear was clearly to assimilate by mover of a quality education. If education is a major ingredient for assimilation of immigrants into mainstream society, then society should pinch bilingual education. A starting point is literacy, since cultivation cuts across all donnish subjects.An effective outline involves using a childs native language in literacy instruction. We generally acquire reading skills by reading (Smith, 1994). By providing a child with reading material in his/her primary language, we fork over the student 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 mother tongue, the student digests the given topic easier. Equipped with reading and heart knowledge skills, the transition into literacy in a second language then becomes smoother for the face language learner.Truly, a childs na tive 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 speaker several years ago. Using further slope, I was trying to teach 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 position language. I soon resorted to teaching her grammar in Spanish.After she mastered the subject, I transitioned what she learned into the initial English littleon that I had tried teaching her earlier. This experience lends credence to the point that scholars make children still have a lot to learn about their Bilingual Education 5 native tongue upon entering American schools (Brisk, 1998). disrespect the fact that research supports using native languages as a tool for literacy, many stay put their resistance to bilingual education they a rgue for an all-English atmosphere in schools. An indirect but serious final result 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 discouraging Spanish from the classroom, the limited English proficient (LEP) student may feel that his or her native language or culture has less value than the mainstream culture. This may produce a sense of inferiority in the mind of many Hispanics and may cause strife among different ethnicities. Ironically, this moves many Latinos away from the assimilation ideal, which opponents of bilingual education do not want.In addition 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 success is one reason Hispanic youths part with school (Lockwood, 1996). By removing their limited access to research-based programs such as biling ual education, they may suffer even less academic success. Eventually, this may produce a Hispanic community full of low-skilled, poorly enlightened people. In other words, it may produce a subclass.Again, this moves Hispanics away 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 great 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 nationals, received minimal bilingual services in the trine grade ( own( prenominal) communication). Despite this fact, academically she performed moderately sound ( individualised 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 same situation.The Rodriquez and Duncan stories chit-chatm to act as support for the elimination of bilingual education. However, neither 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 environment 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 Ro driguezs education she too grew up in a mainly white neighborhood (personal communication). Therefore she too received informal 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 submerging approach in our schools.Although total immersion has no credible 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 office 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 ba sically 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 conversational 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(ip) English skills. Unfortunately, by the time I reached the second grade, I felt as if I garbled a part of my identity I lost a good deal of my native language. I forgot some major Spanish vocabulary words, I started having trouble pronouncing many polysyllabic words, and I had authentic a slight gringo accent.Mexican children noticed this and would often make fun of my awkward 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 maintain a healthy language base in both English and Spanish. Luckily, some of my teachers notice d 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 classify 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 unveiled.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. Summary This book is a very elevated, academic piece of work. It provides the reader with a rule of thumb to language behavior, tools to measure levels of bilingualism, and addresses bilingual development.Other areas the book concentrates on include the cogni tive 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 conventional debates about bilingual education. It in addition examines influences, both internal and external, on the bilingual students education. The source 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 needs 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 Review Journal.Curtis, Lynette. (2006, Nov. 23). take place Pahrump flag ban wont fly. The Las Vegas Review Journal. Lockwood, A. T. Caring, Community, and Personalization Strategies to Combat 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 various ethnic groups. The book addresses bilingual education in the home and highlights the benefits of this strategy. The authors unveil the importance of using cultural norms as a means to teach literacy (such as story-telling). other aspect of this piece is its assessment of childrens everyday 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 opened 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). Understanding reading A psycholinguistic analysis of reading and learning to read (5th ed. ). Hillsdale, NJ L. Erlbaum. .