ABSTRACT
This chapter describes bilingual education in the context of a society that views English as the language of opportunity and the languages and cultures of immigrants in particular as a threat to national identity. It examines how the neoconservative agenda functions to suppress children and youth who come to school speaking a language other than English. According to Hakuta K. one of the most fascinating aspects of bilingualism in the United States is the extreme instability, for it is a transitional stage toward monolingualism in English. Bilingual education slows down the English language acquisition process or prevents English language learners from becoming fully proficient in English. Macedo D. believes that it is the conservative agenda toward bilingualism/bilingual education that has promoted "the hegemony of English" as a way to maintain position of power. Bilingual education is viewed as a threat to that romanticized yesteryear that, excluded marginalized communities from equitable access.
