Topic > Bilingualism and Bilingual Education in American Society

In “Bilingual Education is Necessary,” María Estella Brisk expresses the opinion that bilingual education is a vital part of the American educational system; As an integral component of the American education system, the programs help provide educational equality to all students, regardless of their native language. She believes that bilingual members of an educational community enrich the system, which she believes benefits all students in American education. He criticizes his opponents' views that bilingual education is wasteful and unnecessary as it is regressive and xenophobic. He claims that these biases against bilingual students are a form of institutionalized prejudice that exists within the American academic system. These prejudices are, in this sense, still obstacles to overcome in the American education system to improve the system so that it is equal for all students (Brisk). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay In the article "One Nation, One Language?", Susan Headden believes that it would be advantageous for the United States to impose the English language as the nation's official language while ignoring the others. In his vision, it would be a nearly impossible feat to accommodate the countless minority languages ​​spoken in the country: languages ​​that go far beyond Spanish. He argues that past immigrants, such as Germans or Italians, integrated into American society in the past without the need for special adaptations that the implementation of bilingual education would create. This would be a drain on economic resources. He insists that the United States would still maintain its identity as a cultural melting pot of people from around the world who would still be able to speak their language at home, but that English should be the only official language at all effects. He makes these statements for practical reasons, not out of xenophobic prejudice against people of different backgrounds (Headden). In the study “Assessing the Advantages of Bilingualism for the Children of Immigrants”, Tanya Golash-Boza evaluates the real advantages of bilingualism in American society. His findings demonstrate that bilingualism is generally advantageous in Latino communities; These findings demonstrate that bilingual Latinos are generally more successful in life than monolingual Latinos who speak exclusively English or Spanish. However, his results differ depending on the location of the community and the area where his subjects were tested. These findings show that there are more social factors at play than simply whether or not a person is bilingual. Other factors may include family expectations and opportunities within their communities outside of their families. In general, the benefits of bilingualism are generally positive, but vary depending on the communities examined (Golash-Boza). These three articles illustrate three different opinions on the same topic: whether or not bilingual education and bilingualism are useful or necessary within American society. Among the articles, Susan Headden expresses the most negative opinion towards bilingual housing in the United States, because previous generations were able to integrate into American society without the extra help, which she believes is required by the current generation of immigrants. The beliefs expressed in the other two articles align more or less positively with the topic of bilingual education in the United States. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get an essay.