En el buen camino or On the right track

So I decided to start to throw up stuff on here I wrote for class or The Stall for people who don't read that. This first one was an essay I wrote on Bilingual education for my English 122 final....

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled mass."

That quote is etched onto the Statue of Liberty which once greeted every immigrant who came into this country. My grandparents, dad & aunt were some of the people who were once greeted by the iconic statue. Granted they emigrated from England in 1951, so they didn't have to deal with a language barrier. Hell, they spoke better English than the people born here! However, I can't fathom enough how difficult it would've been for them if they came from a country like Estonia or Argentina.

Bilingual education is quite important for those who whole-heartedly want into assimilate with American society. However, I feel that it could use some work. Micheal Gonzales echoes my sentiments in his article "The Bilingual Ed. Trap."

In the article, he feels that bilingual education programs were used either as a crutch by some students or a dumping ground for American-born students who are fluent in Spanish. Another person who sees a flaw in the system is Jorge R Mancillas, who states in his article,"Bilingualism: Assimilation Is More Than ABC's," that the bilingual education program only teaches the basics so the students can just get by. However the ones, like Mancillas, who go on to college and are completely mind-fucked by the ridiculously long words in college textbooks.

I agree completely with the concerns raised by Gonzales and Mancillas. Those ideas in mind, here is the way that I would improve the system; Yearly competency testing for every ESL student to see how far their English has advanced over the school year. I'm sure some form of this is already in place but there should be a honors-types ESL class that does tech them more advanced English but there still having the safety net of their native tongue to fall back on.

However, there's some people, like Dudley Barlow, who feel that the "ESL" programs are doing just fine. In his article, "Melting Pot or Tossed Salad," Barlow takes a romantic look at the immigrants who are here and are trying their damnedest to learn English so they can pursue that ever-elusive "American Dream." Barlow points out that the ones who come to this country just for their children and their children's children to do better than they did, therefore, all they need is enough English to get by and that is what the ESL programs provides. He also points out that various forms & information packets are printed out in multiple languages for the people quite haven't gotten the hang of English yet.

What this all comes down to is that the ESL or bilingual program is necessary for the people who need it. However, there should be different options for different people who are on different wavelengths when it comes to mastering the English language and there making it easier to get that "American Dream".