This paper discusses bilingual education and argues for an interdisciplinary approach to language-related problems. Linguists are becoming aware of the moral and social implications of their efforts in the field of bilingual education within the larger context of social engineering, and they need to explore language-related issues in a broader framework which necessarily transcends the confines of academic training. Bilingual education is not the domain of any particular discipline at the present time; rather it extends into cognitive psychology, educational linguistics, educational foundations, and social history. Some issues in these areas of scholarship are reviewed in general terms by way of introduction to non-linguistic solutions to language-related problems. The melting pot hypothesis, seen as favoring the biological and cultural amalgamation of northern Europeans in America to the exclusion of other groups, is discussed, as well as what is termed the myth of social mobility, whereby the public school system is seen as the basic instrument by which the working class can advance within the social structure of American life. Arguments to refute this myth are presented. A final issue concerns differences in cognitive styles among children, and resulting discrimination against non-mainstream children. (Author/CLK)