Should English be the official language of the United States? Mauro Mujica of US English Inc. argues; you decide:
Many nations showed [in a recent poll] almost unanimous agreement on the importance of learning English. Examples include Vietnam, 98 percent; Indonesia, 96 percent; Germany and South Africa, 95 percent; India, 93 percent; China and the Philippines, 92 percent; Honduras, Japan, Nigeria, and Uganda, 91 percent; and France, Mexico, and Ukraine, 90 percent.
To an immigrant like myself (from Chile), these results come as no surprise. Parents around the world know that English is the global language and that their children need to learn it to succeed...Given the globalization of English, one might be tempted to ask why the United States would need to declare English its official language. Why codify something that is happening naturally and without government involvement?
The answer is that English in schools, workplaces, and government offices is "on the retreat" in the US:
Historically, the need to speak and understand English has served as an important incentive for immigrants to learn the language and assimilate into the mainstream of American society. For the last 30 years, this idea has been turned on its head. Expecting immigrants to learn English has been called "racist." Marta Jimenez, an attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, speaks of "the historical use of English in the United States as a tool of oppression."...
Citing census statistics gives an idea of how far English is slipping in America, but it does not show how this is played out in everyday life. Consider the following examples...
In May, about 20 percent of the students at Miami Senior High School, where 88 percent of the students speak English as a second language, failed the annual Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) exam, which is required for graduation. The poor results prompted protests and demands for the test to be given in Spanish as well as English. Over 200 students and teachers gathered outside the school waving signs and chanting "No FCAT." A state senator from Miami introduced a bill that would allow the FCAT to be given in Spanish.
Over and above the issue of whether the ability to read English is considered essential in NLCB (and I believe it is), translating exams is no simple task. Anyone who suggests this as a "solution" to help more non-English-speaking students get high school diplomas has no idea of the cost in time and money that's involved, not to mention the fairness and validity issues. Given that Florida is already so strapped for cash that they need to re-use test items, what makes these activists think the cash and know-how are available to develop a Spanish FCAT that is parallel to the English version?
What's more, if that floodgate is opened, what's to stop other activists from demanding Chinese FCATs? Serbo-Croatian FCATs? What use will the FCAT be at that point? What makes these activists think that colleges will be willing to accept students who have not demonstrated mastery of English?
Update: Winston's Diary has a related tale about real students floundering in college thanks to the "post-colonialists" who abhor the "linguistic imperialism" involved in requiring US college students to be proficient in English:
I have had, quite literally, students who could not understand me when I asked them to join a group to work on study questions regarding an essay the class had read...Whatever their major is, they cannot be understanding the content of the class, if it is being delivered in English. How much are they really learning?
...Why is [the language barrier] allowed to persist?
I place the blame on two factors.
The first is the greed of the American university system. This student and others like him are paying a premium price to attend public universities in the United States. They are provided with ESL classes that are, frankly, a joke...
But from the other side of the political fence (sort of) there are those who make the acquisition of the English language a political issue...when too big a deal is made out of the under-performance of ESL students in English classes, the post-colonialists pop out of the woodwork and start lamenting the terrible conditions in these students' home countries that have forced them to come to the U.S. to seek a "quality" education and that we should not practice linguistic imperialism in forcing these students to learn the English language and possibly lose their culture in so doing. We must respect the "linguistic choices" of these students, and read the papers they submit to us for their ideas alone, regardless of whether those ideas are truly being communicated.
But, regardless of which side you decide to listen to, you wind up with students with whom you cannot communicate. Isn't this robbing them of at least part of the quality education they came here for in the first place?
Posted by kswygert at December 16, 2003 11:04 AM