For many Americans, bilingual education seems to defy common sense – not to mention the Melting Pot tradition. They ask:

• If non-English-speaking students are isolated in foreign-language classrooms, how are they ever going to learn English, the key to upward mobility? 
• What was wrong with the old "sink or swim" method that worked for generations of earlier immigrants? 
• Isn't bilingual education just another example of "political correctness" run amok – the inability to say no to a vociferous ethnic lobby?

Some English Only advocates go further, arguing that even if bilingual education is effective – which they doubt – it's still a bad idea for the country because bilingualism threatens to sap our sense of national identity and divide us along ethnic lines. They fear that any government recognition of minority languages "sends the wrong message" to immigrants, encouraging them to believe they can live in the U.S.A. without learning English or conforming to "American" ways.

Such complaints have made bilingual education a target of political attacks. Among the most serious to date are ballot initiatives in California, Arizona, and Massachusetts mandating all-English instruction for most children until they become fully proficient in English. These arbitrary restrictions on bilingual education have dismantled effective programs and made it harder for educators to serve English language learners.

No doubt many of the objections to bilingual education are lodged in good faith. Others reflect ethnic stereotypes or class biases. Sad to say, they all reflect a pervasive ignorance about how bilingual education works, how second languages are acquired, and how the nation has responded to non-English-speaking groups in the past. 

Facts vs. Fallacies

Like many scientific findings, the research supporting bilingual education is often counterintuitive. That is, it contradicts what seems obvious to laypersons. Using Spanish-language instruction as part of a program to teach English sounds a bit like: "Go West to arrive in the East." These ideas make more sense when one realizes that the world is round, not flat. Or that proficiency in a second language does not develop separately in the brain, but builds on proficiency in the first language.

Here are a few facts that everyone should know about bilingual education:

• Teaching English is among the chief goals of every bilingual program in the United States, along with promoting long-term academic achievement in English and – in some cases – enabling children to develop fluent bilingualism and biliteracy.
• The effectiveness of bilingual education in meeting these goals has been well established by research over the past three decades – not only for English language learners but also for native-English speakers acquiring another language.
• The English-only, "sink or swim" method was a cruel failure for generations of immigrant and Native American children, leading to low academic achievement and high dropout rates. That's why the Bilingual Education Act was passed – with overwhelming bipartisan support – in 1968.
• Bilingual education is closely associated with the civil-rights movement of that period. But it has a long history in this country dating back to the Colonial Period. During the 19th and early 20th centuries native-language instruction was at least as widespread as it is today – except that German, not Spanish, was most commonly used.
• English was not "threatened" then or now. In two or three generations immigrants and indigenous minorities learned English and often lost their native languages.
• Linguistic assimilation is, if anything, more rapid today than at any time in U.S. history. The trend is evident in the latest Census reports, and it's nothing to be applauded. Today, more than ever, we need multilingual skills to enhance national security and prosper in a global economy.