BILINGUAL EDUCATION

Bilingual education is any school program which utilizes two languages. An example of legal rationale in regarding bilingual education is English being the only language approach that is taught to English language learners in the United States in school districts according to No Child Left Behind Act of 2001(NCLB). However, historical rationale concerning bilingual education is the history of events that occurred due to bilingual education not being taught in a school district. An example is Meyer V: Nebraska (1923). This case briefly was in regards to prohibiting anyone from teaching any subject in any other language except for English.
Therefore, in this essay three articles will be summarized regarding the legal and historical rationale of bilingual education. Also providing an example of the connection of today’s educational practice in regards to ELL students in today’s classroom environment for each legal and historical event discussed in this essay. In the first article discusses Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka Kansas (Brown v. Board of Education. 1954). The case took place due to a Black female student who had to walk several miles to get to her school through unfavorable conditions that was dangerous for her safety. However, the White school that was in her neighborhood or in walking distance from her home she was not allowed to attend due to her race. The reason for this historical court case was regarding that state-supported and state mandated laws in the United States favored segregation. Therefore, the Supreme Court decision ruled that all public schools throughout the United States will be desegregated. This means that Black students were able to attend White public schools throughout all of the United States. Although, this case was only focused on Black and White ethnicity it also help in the first step toward racial injustice in education.