SAN DIEGO -- Whats wrong with a Connecticut high school requiring that students speak English before receiving a diploma? Or the owner of a diner in North Carolina putting up a sign that warns customers: No speak English no service?
Maybe nothing. Or maybe a lot. It all depends on the motives. When youre dealing with an issue as emotional as language what matters isnt just what is done but why it is done. Its easy to claim youre instituting a rule for someones own good but what if its really for your own comfort level?
Ive written about language for nearly two decades and I can always count on getting angry letters from readers. They begin by insisting how people need to speak English so they can succeed in our society. But then one or two paragraphs later they wind up saying what they really mean: People need to speak English so that others can understand what theyre saying and know whether theyre talking about them.
By the way it would help the readers argument that we should learn to speak English if their letters werent often peppered with misspellings and faulty grammar.
Also lets consider the historical context. Since the nations founding Americans have been squabbling over language while trying to sort through some major contradictions.
There is the one that bothers the courts: How do we reconcile freedom of speech with the fact that some government institutions think we should only be free to speak one language? And the one that concerns those who value assimilation: How do we uphold our nations founding principle -- e pluribus unum (from many one) without eroding the diversity that makes the United States such a unique and magnificent country?
Its a delicate balancing act and Americans havent always pulled it off. Remember when the innkeeper in Taos N.M. tried to require his employees to speak only English on the job and change their Spanish names to English ones -- Jose to Joe etc? Or when the Ladies Professional Golf Association -- in a move that many who follow the sport suggested was aimed at Korean players -- announced that it would require all golfers to speak only English during competitions trophy presentations and media interviews? Both proposals fizzled out thanks to protests but not before dividing people into camps.
And now we can expect more lessons in divisiveness at New London High School in Connecticut which -- starting in 2015 -- will require students to prove they can speak English in order to graduate. The order came from the citys Board of Education which -- surprise -- claims it is taking this action for the students own good. According to media reports when standardized tests were administered in 2010 just 16 percent of 10th graders at the high school scored well on English and only about half were considered proficient in the language.
But New London is also a community where according to those reports at least 28 languages other than English are spoken. You can bet that there is plenty of anxiety about this fact around town and that many who feel put off by this diversity are clinging to English like a drowning man to a life preserver.
Meanwhile at the Reedy Creek Family Diner on Highway 150 in North Carolina restaurant owner Greg Simons cooked up a batch of controversy by putting up a sign advising the clientele that languages other than English werent on the menu. It seems that some Spanish-speaking customers caused a stir because there was no one on staff who could take their order. So up went a sign -- in both English and Spanish as well as in French Russian German and the ancient Celtic language -- explaining that only those who spoke English would be served. After Simons received threatening phone calls he took down the sign in March only to put it back up a few days later.
North Carolina has one of the fastest-growing Latino immigrant populations in the country. But I wonder how many Russian or French immigrants call it home.
The language wars go on and on. And with every skirmish Americans become less unified and more at odds with their own destiny. Its such a sad path for such a great country.
SAN DIEGO -- Whats wrong with a Connecticut high school requiring that students speak English before receiving a diploma? Or the owner of a diner in North Carolina putting up a sign that warns customers: No speak English no service?
Maybe nothing. Or maybe a lot. It all depends on the motives. When youre dealing with an issue as emotional as language what matters isnt just what is done but why it is done. Its easy to claim youre instituting a rule for someones own good but what if its really for your own comfort level?
Ive written about language for nearly two decades and I can always count on getting angry letters from readers. They begin by insisting how people need to speak English so they can succeed in our society. But then one or two paragraphs later they wind up saying what they really mean: People need to speak English so that others can understand what theyre saying and know whether theyre talking about them.
By the way it would help the readers argument that we should learn to speak English if their letters werent often peppered with misspellings and faulty grammar.
Also lets consider the historical context. Since the nations founding Americans have been squabbling over language while trying to sort through some major contradictions.
There is the one that bothers the courts: How do we reconcile freedom of speech with the fact that some government institutions think we should only be free to speak one language? And the one that concerns those who value assimilation: How do we uphold our nations founding principle -- e pluribus unum (from many one) without eroding the diversity that makes the United States such a unique and magnificent country?
Its a delicate balancing act and Americans havent always pulled it off. Remember when the innkeeper in Taos N.M. tried to require his employees to speak only English on the job and change their Spanish names to English ones -- Jose to Joe etc? Or when the Ladies Professional Golf Association -- in a move that many who follow the sport suggested was aimed at Korean players -- announced that it would require all golfers to speak only English during competitions trophy presentations and media interviews? Both proposals fizzled out thanks to protests but not before dividing people into camps.
And now we can expect more lessons in divisiveness at New London High School in Connecticut which -- starting in 2015 -- will require students to prove they can speak English in order to graduate. The order came from the citys Board of Education which -- surprise -- claims it is taking this action for the students own good. According to media reports when standardized tests were administered in 2010 just 16 percent of 10th graders at the high school scored well on English and only about half were considered proficient in the language.
But New London is also a community where according to those reports at least 28 languages other than English are spoken. You can bet that there is plenty of anxiety about this fact around town and that many who feel put off by this diversity are clinging to English like a drowning man to a life preserver.
Meanwhile at the Reedy Creek Family Diner on Highway 150 in North Carolina restaurant owner Greg Simons cooked up a batch of controversy by putting up a sign advising the clientele that languages other than English werent on the menu. It seems that some Spanish-speaking customers caused a stir because there was no one on staff who could take their order. So up went a sign -- in both English and Spanish as well as in French Russian German and the ancient Celtic language -- explaining that only those who spoke English would be served. After Simons received threatening phone calls he took down the sign in March only to put it back up a few days later.
North Carolina has one of the fastest-growing Latino immigrant populations in the country. But I wonder how many Russian or French immigrants call it home.
The language wars go on and on. And with every skirmish Americans become less unified and more at odds with their own destiny. Its such a sad path for such a great country.
