The author of this chapter observes that post-9/11 there has been a rapid and significant retrenchment of multiculturalism as public policy, particularly within education. This apparent retrenchment of multiculturalism as public policy has been bolstered by parallel arguments for a more "cosmopolitan" approach to education within an increasingly globalized world. The chapter explores how the English-only movement in the United States, and its ongoing political effectiveness in delimiting bilingual education there, should remind us why there has been such an effective retrenchment of more plurilingual approaches to language education over the past two decades. The author's aim is precisely to highlight how difficult it is to make the case for minority language rights, despite the positive developments in international law and (some) national contexts. It is concluded that bilingual education approaches, despite their attested educational efficacy, are potentially so fragile and easily dismantled as a result of wider social and political vicissitudes.