Chicago Tribune Editorial - Much ado about English
Chicago Tribune Editorial - Much ado about English
Copyright © 2006 Chicago Tribune
Published May 23, 2006
If you thought lawmakers were hard at work figuring out what to do with 12 million illegal immigrants, you might have been taken by surprise last week when the Senate declared that English should be the national language of the U.S. Who knew the national language was even on the table?
Not the official language of the U.S., which would require the government to print its documents and conduct its business only in English. More than half the states have some version of such a law on their books.
The Senate measure--an amendment to the landmark immigration reform bill that the Senate hopes to pass by week's end--affirms that English is the pre-eminent language spoken in America. It calls on the government to "preserve and enhance" that role and spells out that nobody has "a right, entitlement or claim" to have government services provided in any other language. A second measure passed by the Senate declares that English is the "common and unifying" language of the nation.
But it's not clear why any of that requires an act of Congress. Or why this sort of language might bridge the differences between, for example, the lawmakers who believe in putting many illegal workers on a path to "earned citizenship" and the lawmakers who believe in sending them all home.
What is clear is that, despite all the heated rhetoric in recent days, neither amendment would have much practical effect. Neither would prevent a state or local government from, say, providing driver's license exams or marriage licenses or emergency advisories in other languages. As the Senate so redundantly points out, there is no entitlement to such accommodations. That hasn't stopped governments from providing them when their constituents require them, and it won't stop them now. So declaring English the national language isn't likely to mollify the hard-liners who object to everything from funding bilingual education to being asked to "press 1 for English" when they call the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Nor is it likely to speed immigrants on the path to assimilation. It's obviously not in the country's best interests to have large enclaves of people who function apart from the rest of society, and nothing fosters such an environment so much as the lack of a shared language. But history tells us this is a problem that will solve itself in short order. Generations of immigrants have willingly embraced English without a law instructing them to do so.
The classic assimilation pattern for American immigrants goes something like this: The first generation struggles to get by on limited English while their children struggle to become fluent via the public schools. The third generation speaks English.
A Pew Hispanic Center survey found that 90 percent of Latinos in the U.S. believed they needed to learn English to succeed here.
We don't need a law declaring English our national language any more than we need one declaring the sky blue. We do need comprehensive immigration reform, and if someone thinks this will help us get there, then fine: English is our national language. Now let's figure out what to do with those 12 million illegal immigrants.
Copyright © 2006 Chicago Tribune
Published May 23, 2006
If you thought lawmakers were hard at work figuring out what to do with 12 million illegal immigrants, you might have been taken by surprise last week when the Senate declared that English should be the national language of the U.S. Who knew the national language was even on the table?
Not the official language of the U.S., which would require the government to print its documents and conduct its business only in English. More than half the states have some version of such a law on their books.
The Senate measure--an amendment to the landmark immigration reform bill that the Senate hopes to pass by week's end--affirms that English is the pre-eminent language spoken in America. It calls on the government to "preserve and enhance" that role and spells out that nobody has "a right, entitlement or claim" to have government services provided in any other language. A second measure passed by the Senate declares that English is the "common and unifying" language of the nation.
But it's not clear why any of that requires an act of Congress. Or why this sort of language might bridge the differences between, for example, the lawmakers who believe in putting many illegal workers on a path to "earned citizenship" and the lawmakers who believe in sending them all home.
What is clear is that, despite all the heated rhetoric in recent days, neither amendment would have much practical effect. Neither would prevent a state or local government from, say, providing driver's license exams or marriage licenses or emergency advisories in other languages. As the Senate so redundantly points out, there is no entitlement to such accommodations. That hasn't stopped governments from providing them when their constituents require them, and it won't stop them now. So declaring English the national language isn't likely to mollify the hard-liners who object to everything from funding bilingual education to being asked to "press 1 for English" when they call the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Nor is it likely to speed immigrants on the path to assimilation. It's obviously not in the country's best interests to have large enclaves of people who function apart from the rest of society, and nothing fosters such an environment so much as the lack of a shared language. But history tells us this is a problem that will solve itself in short order. Generations of immigrants have willingly embraced English without a law instructing them to do so.
The classic assimilation pattern for American immigrants goes something like this: The first generation struggles to get by on limited English while their children struggle to become fluent via the public schools. The third generation speaks English.
A Pew Hispanic Center survey found that 90 percent of Latinos in the U.S. believed they needed to learn English to succeed here.
We don't need a law declaring English our national language any more than we need one declaring the sky blue. We do need comprehensive immigration reform, and if someone thinks this will help us get there, then fine: English is our national language. Now let's figure out what to do with those 12 million illegal immigrants.
posted by Carlos T Mock at 9:21 AM
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