BILINGUAL EDUCATION: YES OR NO?

I say YES!

Whether you agree or disagree with me on the topic, I say this simply because people need to diversify.

Many would disagree and protest that we are living in the United States and therefore everyone should speak English. However, the reality is that the United States has not enlisted any national language to be the primary one spoken. Although this is true, this is not a strong argument on why there should not be bilingual education.

The United States is known to be a "melting pot" of many cultures and ethnicities. With this obvious diversity, it is practically impossible to force such a great percentage of the population into speaking one certain language. If you cannot beat them, then join them. For this reason I find it unjust to limit a childs education and eradicate a bilingual influence in their life.
By taking away a bilingual education from the public school systems, the ability to be more culturally rounded is also being rended from existence.
With a bilingual education a child can, for one, communicate to a larger percent of the population that inhabit the United States. Furthermore, with the expertise in two or more languages, more opportunities for jobs and careers open up to them. With the ability to communicate with different ethnicities, many business are more than willing to hire that person in order to expand their trade to different areas and nations.

Yes it is true that it is much easier for everyone in the United States to just learn English. If everyone were to learn English, then we would all speak one same common language without language barriers. We would not have to learn multiple languages in order to communicate with every different culture residing in the US. But are we going to force the rest of the world to also learn English. We are not the center of the universe. The world does not revolve around us Americans. So do we force the French, the Italian, and the Germans to learn our English. I think not.

It might make it easier to have all Americans speak English. But by enforcing such an act does not prepare us nor save us from the rest of the world. We will still need to learn different languages if we want to trade or communicate with our neighbors.

Just like we cannot force the entire world to learn one certain language (English), we cannot force every American to speak the popular language. This nation was founded on equality among diversity. Our founding fathers left Europe and came to America in pursuit of a place where their diversity will be welcomed. If the ideal from this country's beginning was to be welcoming to those who are different, why are we going to change this ideal now? Who are we to force upon the nation to speak one common language? Who are we to set up qualifications of what must be done in order to live in this country?

If we force everyone into becoming English speaking robots, then the reason why this country was founded, makes it strong, and holds it together will collapse.

Therefore, having a bilingual education (and continuing the process) is vital for the survival and success of our youth. Having a wider perspective in both a culture and language is sure to expand a persons horizon to many opportunities that may pass you by if you are uneducated.