| © 1997 SIRS, Inc. -- SIRS Researcher Winter 1997
Title: Let's Make English Official-Author: Gary Turbak Source: VFW Magazine-Publication Date: April 1996 Page Number(s): 26-29 VFW MAGAZINE-April 1996, pp. 26-29 Copyright (c) 1996 by the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States. Reprinted with permission. LET'S MAKE ENGLISH OFFICIAL
English Serves as the Thread That Weaves American Society Together. But Today, That Unity Threatens to Unravel Because of Language Balkanization. Quick now, what's the official language of the United States of America? French? German? Spanish? No, silly, it's English-- right? Wrong. English is not our official language. We don't have an official language, and that shortcoming costs taxpayers a lot of money, drives wedges between Americans, and threatens to turn this country into a modern tower of babble. "America is fast becoming a society divided by language," says Rep. Toby Roth (R- Wis.), sponsor of legislation to help correct the problem. Although our founding fathers used English to create the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and other seminal American documents, they neglected to make English official. Until recently, this oversight mattered little, as most immigrants traditionally learned--or at least had their children learn-- English. English was the glue holding the great melting pot society together, the common denominator of American citizenship. Today, however, 323 different languages are spoken in the United States, and about 32 million Americans speak a language other than English at home. In many cities, immigrants can live, work, and play without ever knowing a word of English, as everything from fast food menus to telephone books to baseball broadcasts exists in other tongues. Society's melting pot has become a salad bowl of distinctly separate ingredients. A small but vocal minority of immigrants even insists that government provide services to them not in English, but in their native languages. Together with politicians and bureaucrats who benefit from America's continued Balkanization, they are steadily eroding the venerability of our nation's de facto mother tongue. BILINGUAL ED AT $8 BILLION One taxing (in more ways than one) aspect of language creep is the quagmire of bilingual education. Not to be confused with the traditional study of foreign languages by English-speaking students, bilingual education refers to teaching non-English- speaking children primarily in their native tongues and only partly in English. Every day, hundreds of thousands of American public school students are taught math, history, science and other subjects in Spanish, Haitian Creole, Bengali, Vietnamese and a host of other languages. In theory, these youngsters are supposed to move quickly into all-English settings while staying current in their subjects. In practice, however, bilingual education doesn't work. "These programs are proven failures," says Jim Boulet, Jr., executive director of the pro-English group English First. "They are successful merely in creating another generation in need of additional bilingual services." Regardless of their English skills, some children are put in Spanish (or other language) classes simply because of ethnic-sounding surnames. Many kids remain in these programs for years--both because they don't learn English and because the bilingual bureaucracy needs them there to get more funding. Studies in New York and Texas show that children taught primarily or exclusively in English achieve higher math and reading scores than those instructed in their native language. Bilingual programs can become language ghettos, dead-end classrooms where kids not only don't learn English but also fail to enter American society. "It used to be that public schools helped immigrants assimilate into their new country," says Boulet. "Today, the same schools divide American children on the basis of language or ancestry." Mandated by the federal government but generally paid for by state and local taxpayers, bilingual education costs about $8 billion annually. MULTILINGUALISM RUN RAMPANT Other examples of language creep abound. In 1994, the IRS set up a toll-free Spanish telephone hotline and spent $113,000 distributing half a million 1040 forms and instruction booklets in Spanish. Despite the return of only 718 of these forms (at a cost to taxpayers of $157 each), the agency is considering similar services for other language groups. Recently, the Pennsylvania city of Allentown, population 105,000, passed an ordinance making English the official language of municipal government. Incredibly, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), led by Secretary Henry Cisneros, threatened an investigation and a cutoff of the community's $4 million in federal housing funds. Alerted by English supporters, Congress--led by Rep. Joe Knollenberg (R- Mich.)--investigated the issue and forced HUD to cease its attack on Allentown. U.S. Postal Service materials, Census Bureau questionnaires and other official publications often appear in other languages. According to the General Accounting Office, the federal government, between 1990 and 1994, printed more than 250 different documents in other tongues. Those included such titles as INVESTIGATION ABOUT THE REPRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOR OF YOUNG PEOPLE IN THE CITY OF SAO PALO (in Portuguese), THE MINT (in Chinese), and NUTRITIVE AND DIETETIC GUIDE TO WILD ANIMALS IN CAPTIVITY (in Spanish). Even swearing-in ceremonies for naturalized American citizens have taken place in other languages. Often, state and local taxpayers are the ones who end up paying the piper of multilingualism. California offers driver's license exams in 35 different tongues (including Tagalog, Hindi, Arabic and two dialects of Armenian), Michigan in 20, and Rhode Island in 19. As mandated by federal law, hundreds of jurisdictions must run elections in a host of languages. In 1994, Hawaii spent more than $34,000 preparing voting materials in Japanese. Four people used them--at a cost of $8,500 each. "For that price, the state could have hired a chauffeured limousine and personal interpreter for each voter," says Boulet. Also, tax dollars are lost and welfare dollars spent whenever workers remain unemployed because they don't speak English. Ohio University professors of economics Richard Vedder and Lowell Gallaway estimate this shortfall at $11.3 billion in 1995--between $180 and $500 (depending on the state) for every tax-paying family in America. Is it any wonder that 22 states and about 45 local governments have enacted their own official English statutes? (Few of these are vigorously enforced, however.) ASSURING FULL PARTICIPATION Lately, a national backlash has been building against American polyglotism, with Congress now considering several bills to make English the nation's official language. Two of these, H.R. 739 (Roth's bill) and H.R. 1005 sponsored by Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.), also call for the abolition of bilingual ballots, most bilingual education and citizenship ceremonies in languages other than English. These measures essentially mirror the VFW position. "The English language has always been our strongest common bond," says Mike Gormalley, VFW's director of Americanism. "Its erosion and the increased official usage of other languages is a divisive force within our nation." Making English official would let immigrants know they have no right to receive public services in any other language. Most federal government business--documents, meetings, records, legislation and ceremonies--would be in English. No one, however, would be prohibited from using another language in a nongovernmental setting. After all, freedom of speech is an American cornerstone. "Official English legislation does not infringe on individual rights, nor does it prevent immigrants from preserving their cultures and their languages in their personal lives," says Mauro Mujica, head of the pro-English group U.S. English. "It does, however, encourage immigrants to learn English in order to fully participate in government." UNIFYING THREAD Lobbying by the bilingual education bureaucracy and other groups has stalled these bills, but public sentiment may get them moving again. A nationwide poll last August [1995] by the Lutz Research Companies showed that 86 percent of the American public supports making English official. Most immigrants (81 percent of them according to the Lutz survey) agree. Mujica, himself an immigrant from Chile, says, "It is particularly galling to me, as a Hispanic, that these government agencies are using YOUR tax dollars, claiming to represent MY interests, to work AGAINST everything most Spanish- speaking Americans want." Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) strongly supports official English. "Alternative language education should stop," he says, "and English should be acknowledged once and for all as the official language of the United States." According to Dole, requiring immigrants to learn English "is not an act of hostility, but a welcoming act of inclusion." President Bill Clinton has yet to say whether he would sign an official English bill, but he did so in 1987 when he was governor of Arkansas. Opponents of official English argue that America thrives on diversity and that language variety adds flavor and texture to our societal mosaic. Logic, however, suggests just the opposite: It is BECAUSE of our great diversity that we so desperately need a unifying thread to bind Americans together, to allow us to understand one another. That thread is English. * * * LOOK AT QUEBEC Canada, one of the world's great democracies and America's biggest trading partner, stands on the verge of disintegration-- primarily because of a quarrel over language in one province. Almost since its inception, Canada has suffered from a running battle between its English-speaking majority and a vocal French minority living mostly in the province of Quebec. Francophiles unabashedly consider Quebec THEIR province and have pressed hard for independence, a notion defeated by a razor-thin margin (50.6 percent to 49.4 percent) in a national plebiscite last October [1995]. Although other issues are involved, language lies at the core of the Canadian rancor. In 1969, Canada attempted to appease the French by becoming officially bilingual, with everything from tax forms to milk cartons thereafter printed in both languages. According to the Canadian Commissioner of Official Languages, Canada spent $6.7 billion between 1980 and 1990 providing dual language services (to a population one-tenth that of the United States). In Quebec, however, French is the only official language. There is a provincial commission for the protection of the French language and another charged with renaming towns, rivers, mountains, and other features that have Anglo appellations. Hostility also extends deep into the private sector. Francophones have booed English renditions of O Canada (the national anthem) at Montreal Expos baseball games. Businesses cannot use English in exterior advertising, and inside stores English is permissible only if a French translation is more prominent. Suspicious fires have been set in English-language schools. Where all this will lead is anyone's guess, but experts believe Quebec independence will soon reappear on the ballot-- perhaps with a different outcome. Other provinces threaten that if Quebec secedes, they might do likewise. American supporters of official English say there's a powerful lesson here for the United States of America. For more information about official English, call or write: ENGLISH FIRST
U.S. ENGLISH
* * * VFW RESOLUTION NO. 103: MANDATE ENGLISH AS THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE OF THE UNITED STATES WHEREAS, the people of the U.S. have brought to this nation the cultural heritage of many nations; and WHEREAS, the U.S. has been greatly enriched by such cultural diversity; and WHEREAS, the people of the U.S., despite their many differences, have lived together harmoniously and productively as citizens of one nation; and WHEREAS, the VFW is an association of men and women who as soldiers, sailors, Marines, airmen and nurses served this nation in wars, campaigns and expeditions on foreign soil or in hostile waters and air; and WHEREAS, Section 713 of the VFW's national bylaws provides that all VFW Posts shall conduct their meetings in no language other than the English language; and WHEREAS, the English language has always been our strongest common bond and has contributed substantially to our social cohesiveness; and WHEREAS, English is our language by custom only and enjoys no special legal protection; and WHEREAS, other languages have been promoted as alternatives and have gained a measure of government acceptance through bilingual education and bilingual voting ballots; and WHEREAS, the erosion of English and the increased official usage of other languages is a divisive force within our nation; now, therefore BE IT RESOLVED, by the VFW that we reaffirm mandates of previous conventions to seek legislation mandating English as the official language of the U.S.; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we seek legislation
to: 1) limit bilingual education to short-term transitional programs only;
2) effect a speedy return to voting ballots in English only; 3) make more
opportunities available to immigrants for learning English and maintaining
the English language as a condition for naturalization; and 4) enact legal
protections for the English language--at state and national levels through
the designation of English as our official language.
Gary Turbak is a free-lance writer based in Missoula, Mont. A Vietnam veteran, he is a frequent contributor to VFW magazine. |