Legislation to make English the Official Language of the US. (school, goverment)

[Lincolnian]

The United States has residents representative of nearly every ethnic, religious, and cultural background. Some states have school districts where over 200 different languages/dialects are the first language of the students that attend those schools.

Now, more than ever, is the time to pass an English as the official language of the United States law. Some will argue that a law of this type is discriminatory. I disagree, seeing the approval of anything less than this law as discriminatory.

As a teacher, I have witnessed the adoption of publications and report card comments in Spanish despite the fact that many other students' primary language spoken at home is Polish, Canadian French, or one of the Asian languages among many others including Spanish.

The greatest opportunity for a child growing up in the United States is to have a high level of proficiency in English. Other languages are important and should be taught in public schools but the primary education should be in English. All publications, reports, recorded messages, etc., should be in English to encourage rapid acquisition and proficiency. It should not be the obligation of municipalities to provide fluent interpreters in hundreds of languages and local dialects, it is both costly and impossible to implement.

With a rapidly growing and largely uncontrolled immigration problem, now is the time to make English the official language of the United States!

[nativeDallasite]

I agree. It's time to stop fooling around.

[Aqualung]

I have no problem with this. English is the closest thing we have to a global language, primarily because of the English and American empires.

[pghquest]

Originally Posted by Aqualung

I have no problem with this. English is the closest thing we have to a global language, primarily because of the English and American empires.

Other then the fact that far more people speak Chinese then English..

[TXboomerang]

I agree. It is absurd to cater to Spanish speaking students while other students that do not speak English are not afforded the same catering. If you cater to Spanish, you'd better be prepared to cater just as hard to dozens of other languages, otherwise, its flat out discriminatory.

I look forward to the day when I look at a package in the grocery store for nutritional information and instead of being printed on the label, there is a 150 page attachment.

[pghquest]

Originally Posted by tnbound2day

I look forward to the day when I look at a package in the grocery store for nutritional information and instead of being printed on the label, there is a 150 page attachment.

oooh that was a good one.

[Greatday]

I would support a Constitutional Amendment to make English the offical language of the United States for all government and goverment related business and contractual transactions

[66nexus]

We should just make it official (English). Later on down the line if it's absolutely necessary we could always add another official lang. There are countries with more than one

[buildings_and_bridges]

I don't agree with having an official language, and I also don't see why it would be helpful to anyone. I've come across so many people who figure English is our national language as it is. What would the actual legislation really accomplish?

I do agree with how the original poster said that children need to become proficient in English as soon as possible. Having tutored freshman composition students (on the university level), I've seen how the education system has failed many and I really think that needs to be rectified, but I can't see how that's related to making English the official language.

[backfist]

No need to stop at language. How about an official religion? An official race? An official ethnicity (or lack thereof)?