Bilingual Education

History

Societies have implemented different forms of bilingual education for over 5,000 years, going back to the ancient world. For most societies, linguistic diversity is the norm, not the exception. Bilingualism is found throughout the world, in all countries, in all social classes, and across all age-groups. For centuries, bilingual and multilingual societies have been created out of trade, migration, politics, and invasion. In recent decades, the advent of the information and communication age, increasing international travel, and growing migration have augmented the bilingual population throughout the globe. A study conducted by the United Nations found that 66% of the world's children are now bilingual or multilingual, a remarkable increase over the last century. This boost in mul-tilingualism is partly due to the fact that more people around the world are choosing to educate their children in a second language, specifically Arabic, Chinese, English, Russian, or Spanish. Australia, Paraguay, Switzerland, China, and Canada, among numerous other countries, have successfully practiced and encouraged bilingual and multilingual education.

Contrary to popular belief, bilingual education in the United States is also not a new phenomenon. Early colonies engaged in bilingual schooling as early as the 1600s. In 1839, Ohio became the first state to adopt a bilingual education law permitting German-English instruction, and, in 1847, Louisiana approved a similar provision for French-English education. The New Mexico Territory adopted a law to authorize Spanish-English schooling in 1850. William Harris, the school superintendent of St. Louis, who later became U.S. Commissioner of Education, argued in favor of [Page 143]bilingual education in the 1870s, asserting that abruptly changing traditions, cultures, and religions could have serious personal consequences.

Pennsylvania, Colorado, New York, Illinois, Maryland, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Minnesota have offered bilingual instruction in Norwegian, Italian, Cherokee, Polish, Chinese, and Czech. For example, San Francisco established Chinese language schools beginning in the mid-1880s; in the late 19th century, seven Czech language schools were supported by the state school fund in Texas. By the early 20th century, at least 600,000 students in public and parochial schools received instruction in German. However, anti-German and anti-immigrant sentiments after World War I prompted states to abolish bilingual education in most U.S. schools and enact English-only instruction laws.

The ban against bilingual schooling lasted until the early 1960s. The consistent academic failure of many non-English-speaking students coupled with the success of bilingual education programs established by Cuban exiles in Dade County, Florida, after the Cuban revolution inspired a revival of bilingual instruction in the United States.

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