The Official Language Movement
Delilah Winstead
Axia College
The Official Language Movement
The United States being a multicultural country it is not a big surprise that more world
languages are spoken here as anywhere else and in the end that is also what makes this
country so unique.
Moreover, I think that this is probably one of the main reasons why the bilingual education
is supported by the children basic human and civil rights. The Rethinking schools
online(2003) stated, “A child belonging to an [ethnic, religious, or linguistic minority]
should not be denied the right … to use his or her own language.” However, there are two
sides to a story and of course; there are opponents of bilingual languages who claim
differently. As stated by Healthline (1998), That it fails to provide children with an
adequate knowledge of English, thus disadvantaging them academically, and they cite high
dropout rates for Hispanic teenagers, the group most likely to have received instruction in
their native language. Most of them go even further and believe that the schools purposely
support bilingual programs by trying to secure the jobs of bilingual teachers so that they
can receive federal funding from the states (Healthline,1998).
Yes, schools receive federal funding, but it is hard to believe that this is the reason why
these programs are being supported. I think that the schools biggest interested is to support
the childrens education which is a big part of this countrys foundation. Therefore, it is
wrong to assume that other languages beside English are a problem in this country and
