ENGLISH-ONLY LANGUAGE WARS ARE UNNECESSARY
by Leo E. Laurence, J.D., Member: SPJ Nat'l. Committee on Diversity
Our American cultural landscape is changing, particularly as the percentage of resident, Spanish-speaking Latinos increases and many young people speak more than one language. This makes many people very uncomfortable.
But, I think the English-only wars that are emerging are unnecessary and even un-American.
Research actually indicates that children of immigrants are more likely to lose their native language and speak only English, than never learning English at all.
One day the valedictorian of a high school wrote into his speech a single sentence, welcoming his grandparents who had traveled to the Unitd States to attend the ceremony. That sentence was in his grandparent's native language. No harm? Of course, not!
At an eighth-grade graduation in the same city, another valedictorian did something similar. She included a single sentence thanking her grandparents - and in their native language - for their support. Again, no harm.
The single line in the high-school speech was in German. The single sentence in the junior-high speech was in Spanish.
However, guess which one caused a furor.
Days before the graduation ceremony, the junion-high principal tried to pressure his student to remove the line in Spanish. He was afraid those who didn't understand Spanish might feel uncomfortable. It is more probable that the principal didn't want to respond to angry phone calls anticipated from people like the Miinutemen.
The girl stood her ground, and the principal backed down. The Constitution's first-amendment right of free-speech was on her side, the same as the Constitution's presumption of innocence makes it wrong for journalists to use the phrase "illegal immigrants" when referring to undocumented immigrants in their stories. It's the law!
Conversely, no one said a word about the line in German, but the Minutemen types are attacking Mexicans, not Germans.
More recently, Cindy and Hue Co, cousins and co-valdictorians in a Louisiana high school, delivered part of their speech in Vietnameese. They are daughters of Vietnamese immigrants.
Cindy told the Associated Press that she added a sentence in Vietnamese to thank her parents. It also meant that she could always be true to herself, and it expressed gratitude to her parents for immigrating to the United States.
It, too, unfortunately turned out to be controversial.
Now the school officials are thinking about adopting an official school policy that requires future commencement speeches to be in English only, contrary to the First Amendment of our fedeal Constitution. That doesn't surprise me, because several high schools in San Diego have intentionally violated state laws regulating their school newspapers.
I dislike it when busybody school officials think that, because they don't like something (e.g., adding a compliment in another language to a valedictory speech) they can simply outlaw it, even when that act may violate federal law.
I don't like it when journalists call undocumented immigrants "illegal aliens," in violation of our constitutional presumption of innocence.
I don't like it when some American teenagers, who can barely speak proper English, may eventually be outmatched in the global market by a teenager from Mexico, Europe or Asia who can speak two or more languages.
Let's face it, English-only policies may seriously handicap American students as they grow up and enter the global market.
Monolingual students need to study harder and become bilingual themselves, and adults need to lay off their objections about a single sentence in a graduation speech in another language.
___________________
Contact journalist Leo E. Laurence, J.D. at leopowerhere@msn.com or call (619) 757-4909.