We consider retreating from our diversity. to imprison ourselves in our monolingualism. The bilingual education program is one of our most successful. because it makes sense. There is no question that immigrants to the United States are better off once they learn English. When those of limited English proficiency arrive here. they know they need to learn English. and they want to learn English. The fact is that the goal. the purpose. the ends of the bilingual education program is to take a nonEnglish speaking child and have them become fluent in Englishwhile they move along educationally in their other subjectsmath. science. and history. In my own experience. as a former school board member for 5 years. in a school district where the majority of students were from immigrant families. we enjoyed tremendous success. For exampla. a young woman who did not understand English went on not only to conquer the language. but to become a valedictorian of her high school. an honor student at Stevens Institute of Technology. and ultimately the valedictorian of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Today she is a doctor. Only a bilingual education could have made this possible. Every immigrant needs to learn English. But a successful student needs to learn much. much more. As each of you will recall from your school days. there was more to school than Just English.
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