The Importance Of Language In Education

The author, Melinda D. Anderson, sheds light on a growing problem in America. Today, thousands of students are experiencing difficulties when trying to earn an education because of the language barriers that prohibit them. Additionally, educators are ignoring this dilemma and making matters worse by enforcing English-only policies. The author believes that educators should discover a way to intertwine languages in order to help struggling students to overcome their language barriers.

In determining my position on this complex ballot offering, I first reviewed the opinions of people who learned in multilingual classrooms, prior to Proposition 227. In general, it seemed like many of them considered their placement in Non-English speaker classes a source of shame and segregation. Many noted that there was a sentiment among teachers and other students that they were different, and even un-American because they did not speak English fluently.

Board of Education. This case was filed against Topeka, Kansas school board by Oliver Brown. Oliver Brown was a parent of one of the children that were refused access to Topeka’s white schools. Oliver Brown challenged the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause because the black schools were never equal to the education of the white schools. The federal district court dismissed the claim, and said that the segregated public school was “substantially” equal enough to the public white school. Brown now brought the case to the Supreme Court. The Court made the decision that the segregated schools were violating the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause in the Fourteenth Amendment. They decided that a good education must be available to both blacks and whites. A year later, in the second part of the case, the Supreme Court ordered all schools to integrate as quickly as

Florida is a state composed of diverse cultures and languages. Prior to 1990 there were not any modifications or accommodations in the classroom for English Language Learners (ELL), which had become an increasing issue. During this decade Florida was the third largest state with residents that were not native-born. Historically, Florida has become the home for many individuals who migrated from Central and Latin America (MacDonald, 2004). According to the Consent Decree (n.d.), the Florida English speakers of other languages (ESOL) Consent Decree was a result of the case, LULAC et. al v. State Board of Education, August 14, 1990. This case addresses the civil rights of English Language Learners (ELLs). The plaintiffs in this case were LULAC and Multicultural Education, Training and Advocacy (META) and the defendant were Florida Board of Education. LULAC and META came together to bring justice to students whose native language was not English. The plaintiffs’ sought to implement policies to protect students whose native language was not English in order to create an equal learning environment. For example, English was the only means of communication in the classrooms and students who did not speak or understand the language would find themselves at a disadvantage. Due to the lack of modifications in place, students would eventually fall through the cracks of the school system. This case brought

In the article, Speak Spanish, You’re in America!: El Huracan over language and Culture, Juan Gonzalez, a journalist and broadcaster of the daily show, Democracy Now, describes how bilingualism has impacted the United States’ modern education system. He describes an amendment that would constitute English as the official in the United States, which he believes can be a potential threat to the educational system. Gonzalez suggests that instead of having an amendment that constitutes English as the national language, American schools should implement Spanish to highlight the importance of being bilingualism in the American educational system. A constitutional amendment declaring English as the national language would be damaging to bilingual students because it would limit their capability of communicating in English or their native language, and therefore they have would fall behind in classes and will not succeed in the American educational system. To highlight the importance of bilingualism, even more the educational system should implement a variety of languages.

The primary goal of any school district’s English Language Learner policy should be to ensure that all students receive equitable access to the curriculum. The Office of Civil Rights memorandum (May 25, 1970) requires school districts to take affirmative steps to provide equal access to instructional program for students with limited English proficiency. The Illinois Constitution guarantees every child from kindergarten through grade 12, access to a free public education; which means, regardless of a child’s home language, he/she deserves a free and appropriate education (Illinois State Board of Education, 1998).

When it comes to students that have not officially mastered the English Language, schools should give students the opportunity to learn it. Schools are supposed to arrange services for students who are not familiar with the English Language. All students should be treated with the same respect and all students should receive some type of education no matter what their background comes from. English is a language that is very popular today in this world. When it comes to legal obligations for students that are English language learners, every student is supposed to have equal access to their education. It was mentioned that in the year of 1970 the Federal Office for Civil Rights, distributed a letter to all school’s districts mentioning that

School principals will find in the following lawsuits the legal framework to provide educational services to ELLs in public schools. Baker (1997) points out that a landmark case in favor of bilingual education in the United States was a lawsuit in 1970. The case was a class-action suit brought by the parents of nearly 3000 Chinese students against the San Francisco School District (Lyons, 1990). This case originated that in 1974 the Unites States Supreme Court handed down its only substantive decision regarding the responsibilities of school districts serving ELLs (Lyons, 1990). The court indicated that under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, the Chinese students were entitled to receive specific support to allow them full participation in the school program (Crawford, 1989). This case was known as Lau v. Nichols and its verdict outlawed English submersion programs for language minority students, and resulted in nationwide ‘Lau Remedies’ (Baker, 1997). Lyons (1990) writes that the ‘Lau Remedies’ specified how to identify and evaluate language minority students, determine appropriate instruction, decide when ELLs were ready for mainstream, and determine the professional standards expected of teachers serving language minority students. Under the Lau Remedies school districts were encouraged to provide

The greatest concern of mandating “English only” schools in California for example is that 80 percent of the population of students is Latino. Miner further explains, “Good bilingual programs are about more than learning a language, it should be about respect for diversity and multiculturalism (Bilingual Education, 1999).”

Teachers are forcing kids away from taking specific classes due to bias opinions, which is why for many schools in the United States language is not looked at as a priority. Picture growing up in a small town, in Maine, which in the data table from Shin and Kominski’s report showed to be a state with the least amount of citizens that spoke a language other than English as their primary language, shows that for some people language is hard to see has being important. In High School some have found a passion in language but don’t receive the proper curriculum that would allow them to succeed. Instead of introducing language in High School, our school systems should focus on adding it into the curriculum that is taught in elementary school and middle school. By starting when you are young, the time you are graduating high school you can speak at least one other language and classify yourself as bilingual. Dianne Steinbach explained it as, “Something that many of us took for granted when we were younger people is now disappearing” (First Speakers:Restoring). Since there is such a large increase in language diversity

Diverse cultures within the United States are rapidly developing and growing and the educational sector is the number one target to ensure that English –learners are receiving adequate education. Within the educational sector there are administrators and teachers who are involved in students lives on a daily basis to ensure that education is equal. In order to achieve the vital objective of equality, socio-cultural influences on ELL students, bilingualism and home language use, parental and community resources, and partnerships between families and schools all have to be considered to provide an opportunity for equal education.

First off, it’s important to understand the difference between learning and education. Learning is the ability of an individual’s brain to acquire and retain information for a lifetime, whereas education is an aide to further strengthen a student’s learning capacity with the use of resources: teachers, libraries, classroom environment, etc. All students are essentially equal when they enter the educational environment, however students who don’t speak English have an unfair disadvantage in the american educational system.

Allowing students to speak dialects they chose when communicating with peers is acceptable outside of the classroom and in informal class discussions because there are no requirements that are necessary to reach within casual communication. If people were not able to speak the dialect they prefer, we would be rejecting them of their own lifestyles because we would not be allowing the freedom which the United States promises.

Historically the states power to control education was always its obligation, today it still remains. The state’s responsibility to provide education and meet standards of excellence is to ensure all perform at a proficient level (Webb 2010). Throughout the history, of education, there are numerous cases that have marked education and now hold vast impacts on American education. One well-known case presented in 1954 was the Brown versus the Board of Education. This case was the determining factors of racial desegregation. Brown's case encouraged many to strive

Language is the universal connection that brings all humans together. We share this common ground to communicate. The three major points that I would like to focus on are: How does language influence our culture? Does it define us, or does it refine us? And lastly, the impact that language has on our societies.