With such government support, bilingual education looked like a program that would be the solution for the education of non-English speaking students. The bilingual education program has a noble purpose and worthwhile objectives. The purpose of the bilingual education program is to teach non-English speaking students in their native language, therefore improving their academic achievement and giving them more .
educational opportunities. Noted writer Brian Taylor author of "English for the Children," points out the many objectives of the bilingual education program: the first objective is to teach students basic academic subjects in their native language therefore increasing their academic progress. The program was also designed to teach the students both reading and writing skills in their native language and eventually to immerse them into classes taught in English. Students in bilingual education programs learn English from the time they enter school. All their academic classes, however, are taught in their native language. After three years of English instruction, students are put into English-only classes. The purpose of these objectives is to preserve the students" culture at school (Taylor). As reported from "Education Week on the Web," bilingual education programs are based on a maintenance program, which preserves the students" native language skills while teaching English as a second language ("Bilingual Education"). This program would make it easier for the student to learn English without risking success in academic classes. Bilingual education programs sound beneficial; however, after implementation for over 30 years, the results seen from bilingual education are not as positive as one would expect. Bilingual education programs have not lived up to expectations. Bilingual education programs are costing the United States billions of dollars. Statistics show that students in these programs are not showing academic improvement.
