The sheer cost necessary to implement bilingual education is also seen as prohibitive by many communities, especially in rural areas where educational resources are already limited (Hu 2008; Mora 2006; NABE 2009). The factors affecting cost are numerous and not always easily identifiable; in addition to the purchasing of bilingual textbooks and other instructional supplies, there is often a perception that bilingual instruction leads to a greatly increased workload and number of class hours, and therefore a greater overall strain on the often-tight budgets of public education institutions and districts (Mora 2006)
That being said, the benefits that bilingual education programs provide immediately to the children involved in the programs -- and to the community at large in the long-term -- make the challenges that implementing such programs present well wroth tackling. Children who receive a bilingual education are better prepared to enter a world with an increasingly diverse workforce, not simply because they are prepared with a second language but also because the act of learning a second language introduces them to using certain tools and mental faculties necessary for linguistic and cultural translations (Patrinos & Velez 2009; EPE 2004; CABE 2009)
There is something of a catch-22 inherent to this issue, as the development of bilingual education programs in elementary schools would result in much higher numbers of qualified available teachers, but the lack of such teachers today makes the formation of bilingual education classrooms difficult at best. Training programs at universities do exist, but their expansion and an increased public profile would be of great benefit to the system by providing more qualified bilingual teachers and thus enabling more pervasive bilingual instruction (Tucker 1999)
This system worked for many year, but there were studies conducted that cast doubt over the prospect that students were effectively being taught English and that bilingual education led to both confusion for the student and less successful prospects as an adult. Proposition 203 states that "all children in Arizona public schools shall be taught English by being taught in English" (Mahoney, Thompson & MacSwan)
This has not proven to be a factual assessment from the data presently collected (Mahoney, Thompson & MacSwan). Most research studies conducted over the past decade in the United States point to the fact that it takes many years to actually gain proficiency in a dense and confusing language such as English and that students actually benefit from being taught in both their native language and English (Shin 14)
"At least 68 schools received 1 to 20 waiver requests. Under the law, schools are required to offer bilingual classes when at least 20 students in a given grade are granted so-called waivers from English-intensive classes" (Sahagun & Anderson, 1998, p
"The designer methods emerged in the 1970's, a period of great enlightenment as many would describe." (Brown, 1994) According to Jack Richards (2001), "The method concept in teaching -- the notion of a systematic set of teaching practices based on a particular theory of language and language learning -- is a powerful one, and the quest for better methods was a preoccupation of many teachers and applied linguists throughout the twentieth century
Poverty has many repercussions for educational achievement. Parents' educational attainment mirror income levels, and parents' educational achievement is highly linked to that of their children's (Baker and Hakuta, n
These programs consist of children being taught standard school subjects in both English and Spanish. The advantages of educating in this manner include: for those students who only speak Spanish this allows them not to fall behind in their subjects during the time that it takes for them to learn English and it also allows for those students who are learning English to not loose the proficiency that they have in their native language (Delgado, Perea and Stefancic, 2008)
This is usually done in structured English Immersion programs that are designed to last not more than a year. After that the students are mainstreamed into English-language classrooms (Effects of the Implementation of Proposition 227 on the Education of English Learners, K-12, 2006)
A student who did not understand the English language and was not provided a bilingual education was thought to be precluded from a meaningful education (Delgado, Perea and Stefancic, 2008). The fundamental question in all of these cases is do schoolchildren and their parents have a right to public education in Spanish for all or part of the school day? How does a school take a group immigrant youth who cannot speak, much less read or write English and educate them so that the vast majority is able to pass demanding standardized examinations in content areas such as math, science, history and English? How does such a school achieve a drop-out rate significantly lower than the local average for comparable students, a graduation rate significantly higher than the local average for comparable students, and an excellent attendance record and college acceptance rate? These are all very important questions that have been at the heart of the bilingual education debate for years (Garcia and Bartlett, 2007)? Court cases over the years have both empowered and disempowered Latino's in their struggle for education in the United States
Bilingual education is advantageous for our country and enables students to learn English as well as keeping their native tongue for future success in our global economy. Bilingual education works in our society and should stay intact within the schools and should be funded to enable students who wish to take these classes should be able to (Hosterman, 2006)
The appellate court held that there was no constitutional violation or violation of § 601. The appellate court held that all students had different educational advantages and disadvantages (Lau v. Nichols, 1974)
In the classroom, an 1839 Ohio law allowed for instruction in German, English, or both according to what ever the parents of students wanted. At the turn of the century, six hundred thousand elementary students received all or part of their education in German which is thought to be more than receive Spanish-English instruction today (Leal and Hess, 2000)
In this case the ruling outlined a three-pronged test for programs that adequately meet the needs for language minority students. This set the standard for what constituted appropriate action on the part of school districts (Mora, 2002)
The court also stated that it did not violate Title VII because it would not inevitably result in an adverse effect, exclusion, denial of benefits, or discrimination and it did not violate the Equal Protection Clause because the Equal Protection Clause is not violated by the mere retracting of legislation or policies that were not required by the Federal Constitution in the first place. In this case the court denied the LEP students motion for a preliminary injunction (Valeria G. v. Wilson, 1998)
The court upheld the judgment of the district court, saying that the school district had not engaged in any discriminatory employment practices which had unfavorably affected the quality of educational opportunities given the Mexican-American children. The Court held that the district court's findings were not erroneous (Otero v. Mesa County Valley School District, 1980)
In the case of language ideology and identity of Latinos in the United States, research has emphasized the power of language ideologies in Latinos' language choices and how these are tied to acceptance or resistance of particular identities. Additionally, sociolinguistic ethnographies of educational settings have demonstrate that language ideologies play a major role in determining which languages are privileged and legitimated in interactions that take place between teachers and students (Pastor, 2008)
The Bilingual Education Act was an amendment to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, intended to help poor Mexican-American children learn English. The goal was not to keep any specific language alive but to just to try to make all children fully literate in English (Porter, 1998)
The court held that the district court's action was proper given the longstanding tradition of discrimination by the public schools and the creation of a mere token plan as a remedy. The court affirmed the district court's decision (Serna v. Portales, 1974)