“Welcome to Class”, or is it “Bienvenida a la Clase”?

To say that the issue of bilingual education is divisive would be a severe understatement. It has its ardent supporters and its vehement opponents, and both argue passionately in favor of their position given any opportunity. Oddly enough, what started the issue was students not receiving services in Chinese has evolved into an almost exclusively Spanish speaking debate. Why is the issue so divisive? What’s wrong with having a class of diverse races coming together to learn two languages at an age that has been scientifically proven to be advantageous for learning language? Perhaps it’s because this issue touches on all of the aspects of life that people often care about the most: their culture, their money, and their children.

Opponents to bilingual education believe that it is a subversive attempt to undermine American culture. They bemoan the fact that 30 states and 53 other nations have individually passed legislation to make English the official language, but the United States is unwilling to take that step. The issue’s supporters however see this as a war on their culture also; quashing the long held view of America as a “melting pot” and refusing to allow Hispanic language and culture to become more prevalent.

The only way to fund bilingual education in the schools is through tax revenues, and again, the two sides have very different views. Supporters argue that as taxpayers, they should have every right to choose what program to enroll their children in, regardless of race. Many of the most outspoken supporters of the issue are non-Hispanics. Remember that an ideal bilingual classroom would be an even mix of native and non-native speakers so that every child is confronted with a new language. Opponents however are equally quick to cite their tax dollars as being wasted without any regard for their opinions.

Every parent wants what is best for their child; it just so happens that opinions vary widely on what “best” really is. Opponents, some of whom are Hispanic, say they don’t want their children being handicapped in their learning of what is still the predominant language, English. They advocate for the traditional model of introduction of foreign language courses in the later grades and cite studies that show students do not transition out of the bilingual programs effectively. Supporters argue that the programs do work, both in preparing non-native speakers to communicate effectively in English, as well as preparing native speakers to be functionally bilingual at a very early age. The fundamental difference in educational philosophy has proved nearly impossible to reconcile.

So what? Why is this important? What does this have to do with the “Future of Education”? See for yourself:

The simple fact is that more and more non-English speakers are moving to the United States legally and are living here, with their children, as taxpaying Americans. The statistics are staggering. Hispanics have surpassed African-Americans as the largest minority group in the United States. America has the 4th largest Spanish speaking population in the world, ahead of 17 nations where Spanish is the official language. As of 2006, The U.S. Census Bureau projects that by the year 2050 there will be over 100 million Hispanics in the United States, comprising 25% of the population.

With numbers like this, it seems hard to argue that bilingualism will be a presence in our classrooms in the years to come regardless, so why not take a stand and put a stop to these numbers now:

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