Under the term bilingualism it is understood that educational process is presented in several languages. As a rule, two languages are used at class. To some extend such practice is rather widespread. However, not each use of two languages can be named a bilingual education. Technically speaking, it is possible to say that any educational system, which uses two languages, is bilingual. However, in practice, a lot depends on the proficiency of the language usage. True bilingual programs make use of both languages at the same level of proficiency.
Bilingual education is an extremely controversial issue. At the time when in many countries it is seen as a positive tendency, which is not available for everyone, in the USA people have different point of view. A rather huge layer of American society suggests that it is a waste of time and money. The reason for such attitude can be easily understood. English language is a lingua franca and everyone in many countries people learn it in order to be able to communicate with the world. So why should American spent their finances and precious time learning other languages, if they are still able to communicate and will be understood almost everywhere? The answer is quite clear. Learning more than one language is another step to become a member of global society. Bilingual education makes this process flow in a more natural and organic way.
Interestingly enough, such heterogeneous attitude to bilingual education has a rather long history. If we look back, it is possible to find out that attempts to introduce bilingual education occurred hundreds years ago. Thus, for instance, "A 1837 Pennsylvania law required schools to instruct in English and German"( Friedman). Bilingual education was quite popular among families, who came from France, Spain and Germany. In accordance with the Department of Education, the history of bilingualism in America is over 200 years (Friedman).
One of the main problems related to bilingualism is the choice of second language at schools. As it is known, Spanish is rather widespread in the USA, but there are also a lot of other languages. Thus, some sources claim that in the schools of New York over 100 different languages are spoken. A variety of polls show that there is no unite opinion concerning the question among American population. American citizens are almost divided into two camps with opposite ideas.
Having analyzed such controversial theme, a lot of questions can be asked. Is bilingual education effective and positive tendency? Definitely, yes. It can give a lot of chances to people and help foreigners acquire English in a more natural way. In addition, bilingual education helps people to become more open to the rest of the world, more global oriented. Bilingualism makes boarders disappear and the rest of the world becomes closer.
Will attitude of Americans change in favor of bilingual education? Only time will show the changes. American society is deeply conveyed that the whole world should learn English and therefore be bilingual. At the same time, Americans on their own do not want to take any measures in order to become bilingual on their own. However, with the flow of time everything changes and it may be so that a competitor of English language will occur and Americans will face a necessity to become more open and learn other languages.
References
"Bilingual Education". (n.d). University of Michigan. Retrieved 24 February 2013 from http://sitemaker.umich.edu/370blinged/home
Friedman, S. (n.d.). Bilingual Education. Retrieved 24 February 2013 from http://maxweber.hunter.cuny.edu/pub/eres/GSR716A_KUECHLER/seymour.htm
