Multilingual education in the United States goes back further than most would think. Growing up I was only taught English, until the fourth and fifth grade when we were allowed to take french classes if our grades were high enough. It is crazy to think that I can still remember some french. Learning another language has more advantages than disadvantages. Wouldn't you want to be able to travel the world one day, and actually be able to communicate with people that speak languages other than English. Four years later I learned that it is required to have two credits of a foreign language to get your diploma in Louisiana, it helps students to realize the importance of speaking another language besides English. Although, I think a lot of high …show more content…
The more diverse the United States’s should make us more unique and known to others worldwide, but it often comes up that some people don't like too much of change and differences. People tend to be comfortable with the things they are used to, so things like multilingualism may not be something that everyone appreciates and agrees with. An individual that is multilingual should have more advantageous and should be something that everyone is encouraged to do. Being multilingual educated allows one to have more job opportunities and allows your connection with others to go deeper.The evolution and origins of multilingual education in the US, is not something one should be against. Having multilingual education in the United States allows us to have a better understanding and appreciation of other …show more content…
In the 1840’s almost half of America’s immigrants were from Ireland, and over 5 million were German immigrants. In a 2000 census more Americans claimed German ancestry than any other. Between 1880 and 1920 America was becoming very urbanized and industrialized which caught the attention of many immigrants, leading to more than 20 million immigrants coming to America. Although the rapid increase in immigrants began to decline one WWI started. Then Congress later established a law requiring all immigrants over the age of 16 to take a literacy test. This helped to limit the number of immigrants coming into America. When million of immigrants came to the United States in the nineteenth century their languages came to the United States as well. According to the history channel many immigrants came to America during this time to seek greater economic opportunity and even for more religious freedoms. The first federal legislation that puts a restriction on immigration was the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, which prohibited the immigration of all Chinese laborers. A few years later Ellis Island was established in the Upper New York Bay, which was the country’s first federal immigration station, which operated from 1892 to
The mid-19th century saw an unprecedented wave of immigrants coming into the country. At its peak, Ellis Island, the main processing station for immigrants, handled an astounding 5,000 people every day. Because of the language and culture barriers faced by each group of people, they often settled amongst themselves. Very quickly, country-specific neighborhoods began popping up throughout New York and the surrounding area. This helped to alleviate the stresses with moving to a new country; however, most immigrants came to the United States penniless and lived in low-income housing as their jobs rarely supported themselves let alone their families.
Did the benefits of the immigration boom in the late 1800s outweigh the drawbacks? During the 1800s, many people migrated to urban areas because they wanted jobs and land. Many people thought that migrating to urban areas would be like a perfect dream, however they were disappointed when they realized that the benefits of migration did not outweigh the drawbacks. During the late 1800s, millions of immigrants were coming to the United States. Most of the immigrants came from Europe.
During the time between 1890 and 1914 immigration to the United States rose sharply, especially from southern and eastern Europe. These new immigrants typically spoke little English and were already lower class citizens in their original home countries, making it very difficult for them to thrive as they set up new roots in America. This caused many Americans to place the blame on them when troubles arose regarding the quality of their current life styles. Eventually in 1917, in response to these feelings of resentment towards foreigners, the United States passed the new Immigration Act, a stricter set of laws and restrictions dictating who would be allowed passage into the country. The Immigration Act was met with plenty of outrage, especially
It could also provide for fairer social policies. At the present time, America has no official language. English is the main language that is spoken and has been for centuries. Children within the school system should learn languages from two cultures.
Which could make it harder on the students for them to be able to understand what is being taught. When Don Kauchak & Paul Eggen states in the textbook Introduction of Teaching “a federal court ruled that in San Francisco school system had violated the rights of the Chinese Americans students, and students who found their educational experience “wholly incomprehensible” should be taught in their first language if that language was not english” (D. Kauchak & P. Eggen). Basically Don and Paul are saying that they should be able to be taught in their language that they already know, instead of having to learn a whole new language of english while trying to learn the instruction of the topic that the teachers are trying to teach. Don Kauchak and Paul Eggen are surely right about how they should be taught in their home language instead of English if it isn’t English because he may be aware of the struggles that they could be having while going through a difficult schooling problem.
In the early 19th century, millions of immigrants from Europe had traveled to the United States to escape difficulties faced in their native lands such as poverty and religious persecution. Italian, German, Irish, and many other eastern European immigrants sought the prosperous and wealthy lifestyle advertised in the land of opportunity, the United States. However, after settling down they often faced the difficulties they had fled from as well as sentiments of prejudice and mistrust from the American people. Most immigrants were discriminated against due to their religious beliefs as well as their language barriers which fostered the beliefs that they were intellectually inferior to Americans.
Immigration Back Then and Now Immigration has been one of the major issues in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The United States started becoming more urbanized and many Americans were moving from rural areas to the cities and this is what attracted many immigrants to come to the United States. Immigrants came from different parts of the world such as East Asia, Western Europe, and northern and southern Europe. Besides the U.S. is becoming a land of opportunity, immigrants have also traveled to South America and Australia, but more than 70 percent of them chosen to travel to North America.
Having a second language in your background is so impactful on one’s life, providing them with more skills. This is the 21st century and having this skill helps an individual be
So, why then, has widespread establishment of such programs not become a norm in United States’ curriculums? Aside from given financial and administrative concerns, a deeper obstacle is found in the commonality and comfort of the English language. Because it has become the base language of several global industries including business, science, and technology, and is by some considered a universal language, its native speakers may feel disinclined to broaden their linguistic horizons. While this partially stems from in the U.S.’s already rich multiculturalism, and may seem a reasonable conclusion, the reality is that this mindset puts many affected students at a disadvantage, as national and global job opportunities are competed for against
So not only do both groups learn and work with two languages they meet new people they wouldn't have met or had class if it was not for those bilingual classes. Studies have been made to show the effects of bilingual education and how students would benefit from being in a bilingual class, “ELLs who had gotten waivers to remain in small bilingual programs were equally proficient in English and did just as well on state tests when compared with ELLs in English-only programs” (Sanchez). So bilingual education can improve the communication between ELL students
That 's why I 'm determined to teach my kids even if it takes away some of their freedom because it will help them in the future. Moreover, being bilingual has many other benefits than just being more attractive and having better job opportunities. One of the other benefits is you are more likely to be smarter than the person who knows one language. According to the New york Times “Being bilingual, it
This topic is very interesting for me as I received my undergraduate degree in political science. I understand that a universal language is required in order for people of a nation to communicate with each other, but I am extremely hesitant to denounce other languages from existing in a state (sovereign nation). In my opinion, I think that bilingualism should be encouraged in the classroom. I have been at a disadvantage throughout my life simply because I am only fluent in one language. Growing up, I never thought that other languages were important simply because it wasn’t heavily promoted in any of the schools I attended.
Learning a second language at a younger age is beneficial Most little kids first day of school is when they are approximately five years old, and about to enter kindergarten. Kids go to school from about age five till graduation from high school at about age eighteen. Most schools focus on the basic core subjects, such as math, reading, science and history. Until junior high or high school, foreign language is not even offered.
To allow students to focus on their own interests, schools should not require two foreign language credits to graduate. Students could be using the time spent learning a foreign language to get in a few advanced classes or extra classes in their future career field. On average, high schools require at least two full-year credits of the same foreign language in order to
It is encouraged for students to learn foreign languages as it has numerous benefits. Most countries have introduced foreign language starting from the early age. Today, the high school graduates are required to study foreign language in schools as it becomes a requirement for them to graduate from certain college with minimum of two years of learning foreign languages. Hence, the students are encouraged to learn on other language. Basically, foreign language is a native to another country and it is also a language which is not spoken in the native country of the person referred to.