On the other, ardent advocates of bilingual education demand wholesale adoption of bilingualism with little accountability. At stake are the many millions of dollars in federal funds that could affect the lives of more than the 1.3 million students in California who have limited proficiency in English. Certainly we can all agree on the premise that all immigrants coming to the United States need to learn English. Thus the hue and cry for ending bilingual education often hinges on reports of lack of progress in English and certain standardized test scores by children enrolling in those programs. Yet little is said of the real underlying fear of the English-only proponents.
Nothing is further from the truth.
No matter what ethnic community I come across, English seems to be the preferred language. As I walk through the Mission District, through the smattering of different languages, I hear English spoken predominantly. There are whole generations of Vietnamese out there for whom English is the only language. Even Vietnamese gangs swear at each other in English, loud and clear. So, contrary to the argument that the concept of a melting pot in America has been under attack and no longer holds much consideration in today's sociology, it is arguably valid and has been at work, surreptitiously perhaps, but influential and effective.