Bilingual education: good, bad or both

The AP is out with a story on Newt Gingrich calling bilingual education the education of a ghetto. I can understand his point, but I think that for many people learning English through their language works best, so it has a place. I agree that ballots should only be printed in English, because that's the language of the country. If you want to vote or do anything else with the government you should have to do it in English. But in order to be able to vote in English or do anything else in English you first have to learn English. So, while I agree that all kids should learn English primarily, we need to use the best possible method for getting the to learn the language - which more often than not is immersion.