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
Click here to unlock this and over one million essays
Show MoreDid 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.
Rodriguez argues people should be encouraged to speak another language, as it will help a lot in many outside-world situations. Language should be something that brings many people all around the world together. Although, learning languages in America could be slightly
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
Also, in the course book on pages 611, it mentions how even though the conditions were bad in America, the Jews that came from Russia appreciated that America was a safe haven. I did some research and found a map titled, “Immigration to the U.S. in the Late 1800s”, by National Geographic Society. In this map, you can see the amount of immigrants coming into the United States from different locations. As you can see, America was slowly
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.
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.
Immigrants, fleeing their homeland to escape oppression for religion or to find better opportunities for employment, were drawn to the booming American land of industrialization and urbanization. Old immigrants from Western Europe entered the country prominently in the 1880’s. But from the 1890’s to the outbreak of World War I, New Immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe flooded the country. These immigrants, bringing with them lesser-practiced customs and religions that could shape the culture of America, mainly congregated with people of similar nationalities in ethnic neighborhoods in the growing cities, thus limiting their assimilation into American society. Another factor limiting the influence of immigration on America was the resistance of the “native” Americans to the New Immigrants.
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
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.
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
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
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
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.
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.