Why Not Support Bilingual Education?
Bilingual education in United States was designed for students who speak a language other than English, or English as his or her second language. This program has helped students to keep up with their academic works and to get them into regular English classes as quickly as possible. Those who enrolled in bilingual education were either immigrants or children with limited English, and whose parents sent them to the United States to learn English. But anyway, the majority in our society were immigrants, whose native language is not English. Many came to the United States to seek freedom and to be educated. Since English is the common language of United States, it is taught to all immigrant students. Many immigrant students are enrolled in bilingual education because their parents want them maintain their cultural heritage and to be bilingual. There are many advantages of being bilingual; it makes communication easier and more diverse.
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Français : Lafayette Louisiana
English: Bilingual notice in English and Cherokee ...Therefore, I believe that bilingual education should be provided for immigrant students because it help them maintain their native language while they learn English and to be bilingual.
However, there are people who criticize bilingual education and argue that this program has failed to provide the students' native language with enough knowledge of English. As a result, many native students did not gain the academic skills and eventually dropped out of school. S.I. Hayakawa was one of people who criticized bilingual education. He said that, " bilingual education failed to teach English efficiently and perpetuate their dependency on their native language" (565). However, I came to disagree with Hayakawa's view about bilingual education. I think bilingual education is good because it helps students to study English. Good bilingual education is well organized, and they work pretty well in the United States.