Bilingual education is a bureaucratic boondoggle that is isolating immigrant children from the rest of American society and relegating them to a life of second-class citizenship.
Federal bureaucrats forced bilingual education programs into the public schools in 1974 without any research whatsoever to demonstrate their effectiveness. Twenty years later, there's still no proof that these programs bring immigrant children into the English-speaking mainstream of our nation. Prior to 1974, millions of immigrants learned English by the immersion method. That means that immigrant children went to public schools where only English was spoken and learned this new language rapidly. They then went home and taught English to their parents.
Since 1974, federal regulations have required that public school instructors be proficient in the foreign language they teach, but do not require that they speak English fluently. A school can lose its federal funding if it fails to "instruct," "maintain," and "develop" in the student's native tongue, but there is no corresponding penalty for failing to teach English. Unfortunately, foreign language instructors have discovered that they can enhance their job security by delaying their students' transition to English. As a result, many of their students graduate from public high schools without ever learning English.
Representative Toby Roth of Wisconsin has introduced a bill in Congress mandating that all federal government business be conducted in English and repealing statutes that require non- English ballots and bilingual education. "In many places in America, English is no longer the first language in school," says Roth. "Our children are now taught, by law and with government funds, in dozens of languages other than English -- 12 different languages in New York City alone. Instead of a first-rate education in English, students in bilingual education classes are taught in their native tongue, and English is rarely spoken."
Toby Roth argues that, despite the enormous expense involved (an estimated $8 billion annually), "bilingual education is a dismal failure at doing what Congress originally asked it to do: teach children English quickly and effectively. Tragically, it relegates countless children -- unable to speak, understand, and use English effectively -- to a second-class future. More important, programs like bilingual education divide our country by undermining the common bond that holds our country together -- our English language."
Congressman Roth says that the purpose of his legislation is simply to ensure that "the primary language of instruction in schools is English, and that [Americans] vote and deal with the government in English. People will still be able, even encouraged, to speak and learn a foreign language, and preserve their heritage," he insists. "The only significant difference will be that government actively reinforces our common language rather than erodes it."
Congressman Roth says that his overriding goal is "to keep America one nation, one people. We must preserve the common bond that has kept this country of immigrants together for more than two centuries by making English our official language. Our future as a united nation depends on it."
