Bilingual education was first introduced in 1968. It was a new way to educate children who spoke a minority language. Thirty-one years later, the same problems exist for children who speak a language other than English. The experiment with bilingual education was a failure and now it is time to move on. The first English-only initiatives were launched in 1981 by the newly elected President Reagan. Since then, the conflict over bilingual education has continued. Currently, twenty-three states have "English only" laws, and four states have pending laws. The issue of bilingual education and the conflict surrounding it focuses primarily between whites and Hispanics, although since the mid-1970s it has also involved Chinese and Mung cultures. Bilingual education has failed, however, the current trend is towards an English-only education system. The simple fact is that people who speak one language in this country will never progress. We tested the ignorant idea that one could get by without speaking English; or speak very little English, but it's a promoting and even more ignorant idea that you don't need to speak English fluently to succeed in America. In 1968 we didn't know that bilingual education wouldn't work, however, it's time to move forward and do the right thing and move to English only. Lyndon Johnson was president, we had the futile dream of world peace, at the same time. the time when we were “bombing the North Vietnamese into the Stone Age.” During the final year of LBJ's presidency, several new educational initiatives were taken as the final phase of his "Great Society" programs. One of these new initiatives was bilingual education. At the time it was supported by white liberals in this country, the Hispanic conservative sect was overwhelmingly opposed to such measures. The idea at the time was that children would learn in their native language and simply learn English gradually. These ideas became radicalized in the 1970s, but the principle moved away from progressive learning of English; English wasn't really necessary. In 1981, bilingual education came under attack by newly elected President Reagan, who proposed moving to an English-only system. The idea was not seen at the time as anti-Hispanic, nor as some sort of racist proposition. Reagan was beloved by the majority of the printing industry and since 1908 it had been printed exclusively in English by the United States government. Teddy Roosevelt said in 1908: “To print the American Constitution in any language other than English would be tantamount to spitting in the face of our ancestors.” The United States Supreme Court has also repeatedly ruled that English-only laws do not violate the First Amendment to our Constitution. I personally believe that in our nation there should be one primary language, not 3, 4, or 1,200. George Washington was "While giving orders to Valley Forge in Russian, he spoke English. Abe Lincoln did not didn't deliver the Gettysburgh Address in Portuguese It's not too much to ask of every American citizen to be able to speak English fluently No one has to live here, and if you refuse to adapt, you probably shouldn't. not live here. If you absolutely want to speak German, go ahead, but do it in Germany. However, while you're in America, we speak English, and if you don't know it, you're in trouble. is overrated. It's not about racism or any other form of hatred..