My goal for this website is to develop and help others better understand if bilingual education is beneficial to learning. The melting pot theory or the salad bowl theory are both something that goes hand in hand with bilingual education. Both, do effect education in some way, shape, or form. In schools favoring the melting pot, students are likely to be immersed into regular classes where they’re taught all their subjects in English. In schools leaning toward the salad bowl, students are more likely to attend classes in their native language while gradually learning English in after-school or tutorial settings. Since the 1960s, research has shown that multiple language skills do not confuse the mind. instead, when the languages are well-developed, they seem to provide cognitive advantages, although such effects are complex and difficult to measure.

At this point in time, there is really no evidence or research that has found a definitive answer for weather knowing more then one language is beneficial. Based on opinion, some may say that it is. people such as my family members or I would say that being bilingual or multilingual is important just because we thrived in school for knowing multiple languages. In our family, six languages are common, not including English. Coming from the Soviet Union, our family speaks Russian, Uzbek, Tajik, Farsi (Persian), Bukharian, and Hebrew since after fleeing the Soviet union my family migrated to Israel. Since most member of my family speak at least two or three of these languages, we feel that we are more adept at comprehending certain subjects in school because of the languages we know.

This interview was asked and given in Russian and Bukharian and later translated. Being interviewed is my father.

Me: “So in your opinion do you believe knowing more than language beneficial to learning?”

Father: “After going through schooling in the soviet union, I believe that knowing more languages is very beneficial. Like my father always told me, ‘knowledge is power.’ Knowing more then one language is not only beneficial in schooling, but in life. Like in international business, the language of business is currently English. If I were to learn English when I first came to this country, I would have been in the business market way earlier in my career. When it comes to education, I feel it is beneficial because my father was a language teacher and director of a school. He would teach the Uzbek language in  Public School 26 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Since he knew the language better than most native people, he was one step ahead of others when it came to comprehending things. He was a prime example for me because when it was time for me to learn new languages because he showed me by knowing more languages, it can make you more powerful. Growing up, I learned Russian and Bukharian because that was our native language. As I grew up and started going to school, I had to learn Uzbek, Tajik, and Farsi. After migrating to Israel, I became fluent in Hebrew, and now I am working on my English. Language is power, and I feel that everyone should learn another language, it will help tremendously.”