Bilingual Education: A Perennial Cultural Contention

The controversy surrounding Bilingual Education is a subset of the Cultural War. Many authors note that Bilingual Education is embroiled in controversy, but all leave the cause, scope, and nature of the controversy unspecified fully. We see, in general, Education being embroiled in the conflict between a Common Culture and a Dominant Culture Worldview (Weltaanschauugen). A parallel controversy is the intention behind public education. Is education for ingraining compliance or advancing critical thinking? Cultural Worldview has been shown to have explanatory power in service prioritization (Peter, S., et al., 2021). There are several scholars that link Language, Culture, and Consciousness or Cognition. One Linguistic Theory states unequivocally that Worldview, as Culture, is inextricably linked to Language. Other dichotomies are involved, such as, particularization and universalization of language curricula. There is the view that government, Federal to Local, has entered into the Cultural Maintenance business, not necessarily extending educational opportunities. In fact, some opine that Government has established Special Rights, not simply enforcing the same Rights through language curricula. Implicit throughout this paper is the idea that Bilingual Education (BE) is not an ideological spoil of the Culture War. Moreover, Cultural Maintenance is not the responsibility of government, but that of the specific cultural members themselves, despite the legal requirements foisted upon government. Moreover, the conflict surrounding Bilingual Education is the result of the Left’s weaponization of language itself and language curricula in general. With respect to the latter, it is just another avenue the Left uses to advance its Worldview.