Because the United States began as a melting pot of people from many different nationalities and ethnic groups, bilingual communities and education were a matter of course. It was essential for business people who served members of a particular culture to know that language, and immigrant children who did not speak English were often taught in their language of origin. By WWI, the United States began to develop a strong sense of itself as a nation, and English emerged as the 'national' language. Non-English-speaking children were no longer taught in any language other than English. When did this trend begin to reverse, and why?