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Making English the Official Language As everyone agrees, English has been America's common language since its foundation. In recent years, however, English is in danger of losing its status as a national language. As you would see in metropolises and cities in Border States, use of non-English languages among immigrants has been increasingly common. Some immigrants stick to their native language in everyday life and can't speak English well even after several years of immigration. Because the lack of common language causes a lot of problems, some argue that the use of other languages should be legally restrained. But other people oppose it by saying that restraint will put non-English speaking people under pressure and the lack of bilingual supports will jeopardize their lives in cases of emergency. One of the problems is that neither the Constitution nor laws states English as the official language. As a reaction, Proposition 63, which would legally put priority on English above other languages, was proposed in California. There have also been some movements in Congress toward constitutional amendment to make English a national language. Avila and Rooney express their opinions about this issue from the opposite sides and in different strategies. In his article "The Case for Bilingual Ballots" on San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle, Avila argues that we should continue and strengthen the bilingual support to non-English speaking immigrants. On the other hand, in his article, "Liberty and Language for All" on the newspaper, Rooney argues that we should make English an official language and stop bilingual support for immigrants in public. As reading the two articles several times, I felt an apparent difference of strength each article has on me. Avila's argument seems to be stronger than Rooney's because Avila's article is more based on the serious situation of immigrants. In his article, Avila concentrates on providing objective information regarding the Proposition 63 to Californians who are going to vote. He first explains about an insufficient environment for immigrants to learn English, giving a specific example of a lack of ESL classes. As seen in the following sentence, "San Francisco Community College Centers had about 3,000 names on waiting lists for English as a Second Language (ESL) classes in Asian and Hispanic areas last year,"(Avila 345) his sentence is very particular and contain concrete numbers. He makes his article unquestionable by using those facts. Then he claims that the bilingual support is necessary and not a waste of money. Although he rarely expresses his personal opinion in this article, his own arguments are well understood from the facts he gave. He wants to say that governments and society are to blame for immigrants not to learn English because they have fault in not providing sufficient environment to learn English. Because Avila's article was on the local newspaper, his article is intended to be read by everyone who is concerned with Proposition 63, mainly voters in California. He is an activist for non-English speakers' right. His use of objective information is very successful to persuade readers, especially for people like him who don't have authority or power. Avila appeals to our emotion by providing facts which are opposite of our assumptions. For instance, we tend to think that immigrants can't speak English because they are lazy in learning English. But his use of evidence about the lack of classes overthrows this thought, and the readers realize that the governments and society are to blame, not immigrants themselves. Next, he claims that the bilingual support in elections should be continued because it is effective compared with its cost. Also in this argument, he destroys the assumption that the bilingual support is expensive. The strategy of overthrowing is dominant throughout his article. This is especially apparent in the following two statements, "The motivation is there; the ESL classes are not..." and "Some charge that bilingual ballots waste taxpayers' money. The numbers tell a different story." (Avila 345) This strategy gives stronger impression about the bad situation of immigrants, and it works to sympathize with them. Rooney claims that English should be declared as an official language and bilingual support should be abandoned. Although he supports his claim by explaining that being not able to speak English is great disadvantage for immigrants themselves and bilingual support hinder learning of English, his article overall seems to be intended to justify the prejudice he has against immigrants. As he agrees at first, he personally dislikes "people who have lived in this country for years and can't or don't speak English." (Rooney 346) His scornful attitude toward non-English speakers, especially to Spanish speakers, can be seen all over his article. For example, he says, "we're giving young Hispanics the impression they'll always be able to make out here," (Rooney 347) if we support bilingual language in public. This statement implies that he thinks non-English speakers are less intelligent, and they won't learn English unless they're forced to do. He says again at the end that, "I personally enjoy being intolerant once in a while. I'm intolerant of people who come here to live and don't want to learn to speak English." (Rooney 347) As the words "personally enjoy" imply, his article is motivated from his personal feelings. Therefore his argument is weak, especially who have different values from him. It's clear that Rooney's article has not been written for non-English speakers on contrary that Avila's article is for every kind of people. He seems to divide Americans into two groups, the traditional English-speaking citizens, mostly whites, and new non-English speaking immigrants. This can be inferred from the following sentence, "There's a growing division in this country between the great number of Spanish-speaking people who've come here in the last 10 years and the rest of us." (Rooney 347) He is talking to "the rest of us" which includes himself. This article's purpose is just to make sure and strengthen their feeling against the immigrants. His arguments are appreciable only in their group and don't bear universal ideas that can be supported by all people. Not only Avila and Rooney are in the opposite sides on the issue of bilingual support, their status in the social hierarchy is also quite contrastive. While Avila is a grass-roots activist who supports socially weak people, Rooney is a famous personality on nation-wide television whose opinion can have an influence on entire States. This difference appears in their style of texts. In his text, Rooney is overconfident in his authority and arrogant to the people different from him. On the other hand, Avila is sincere and modest in his way to persuade the readers; he tried to provide self-decision making materials to vote for or against Proposition 63. When persuading readers, especially in such a specific issue of making English official language, it's more persuasive to argue with concrete facts like Avila did than just to impose one's opinion. Works Cited Avila, Joaquin G. "The Case for Bilingual Ballots." Robinson 345-46. Robinson, William S., ed. English 100 Custom Reader. New York, Heinle & Heinle,1998. Rooney, Andy. "Liberty and Language for All." Robinson 346-37.
They are once again plagued by a lack of clarity and cohesion. In his despair, Villanueva discovers a tape by Robert Kaplan. The discussion is about bilinguals, which he is, and how their rhetoric pattern varies. He discovered that he sounded logical to himself but illogical to the average unknowing ear. He had put his race behind himself, he learned what it mean to be “white middle-class.” What he now knows is that “Without a knowledge of history and tradition, we risk running in circle while seeking new paths.” It wasn’t a matter of his disadvantages; his race, his age, his background, his grades. It was a matter of his thinking. Villanueva seeked approval from others yet he didn’t approve of
Walking into a lecture hall in Gregory Hall, I really didn’t know what to expect. I dressed as I would any other day; an Abercrombie shirt, a pair of frayed shorts and some casual sandals. I sat towards the front of the room and arrived slightly early to ensure a good seat. The name of this Brown v. Board education discussion was entitled, "Rethinking Slavery: 1800-1861,” and was arranged by the Mellon initiative.
Rodriguez’ article seems to have been heavily driven by social and political means. In the beginning
The case of brown v. board of education was one of the biggest turning points for African Americans to becoming accepted into white society at the time. Brown vs. Board of education to this day remains one of, if not the most important cases that African Americans have brought to the surface for the better of the United States. Brown v. Board of Education was not simply about children and education (Silent Covenants pg 11); it was about being equal in a society that claims African Americans were treated equal, when in fact they were definitely not. This case was the starting point for many Americans to realize that separate but equal did not work. The separate but equal label did not make sense either, the circumstances were clearly not separate but equal. Brown v. Board of Education brought this out, this case was the reason that blacks and whites no longer have separate restrooms and water fountains, this was the case that truly destroyed the saying separate but equal, Brown vs. Board of education truly made everyone equal.
Fifty years ago the state of our beautiful nation was quite different. The United States were not very united at all. Fifty years ago a court decision marked a change in society that Americans will experience forever. The Brown vs. Board Supreme Court decision gave the old ?separate but equal? laws the boot. It marked the start of integration of public schools and universities. The process was not a smooth one to say the least, yet American society as it stands today is a far more equal because of it. However close we may be to equal it still is not yet equal. Artists of late have been expressing their view of American culture in many different ways. A particular group of artists calls themselves Social Studies more than likely referring to their portrayal of American social issues.
In 1954, the Supreme Court of the United States was confronted with the controversial Brown v. Board of Education case that challenged segregation in public education. Brown v. Board of Education was a landmark Supreme Court case because it called into question the morality and legality of racial segregation in public schools, a long-standing tradition in the Jim Crow South, and threatened to have monumental and everlasting implications for blacks and whites in America. The Brown v. Board of Education case is often noted for initiating racial integration and launching the civil rights movement. In 1951, Oliver L. Brown, his wife Darlene, and eleven other African American parents filed a class-action lawsuit against the Board of Education of Topeka, and sued them for denying their colored children the right to attend segregated white schools. They sought to change the policy of racial segregation in their school district. The plaintiffs collaborated with the leadership of the local Topeka NAACP to overturn segregation in public schools. In the fall of 1951, the parents tried to enroll their children into the neighborhood schools, but they were denied enrollment in the white schools and told to attend segregated black schools. The District Court noted that segregation in public education had a harmful effect on black children, but denied the need to desegregate schools because “the physical facilities and other ‘tangible’ factors” in Topeka, Kansas were all equal. The District Court confirmed the precedent established in Plessy v. Ferguson by the Supreme Court in 1896 and upheld state laws permitting, or requiring, segregation in public education.
middle of paper ... ... Our government already works in an English-speaking capacity, and of all the languages we have put forward for our country in the past, English makes the most sense overall. While providing the necessary instruction and help for non-English speaking citizens and/or immigrants, we will still be preserving the cultural heritage of early America. Works Cited Perea, Juan.
We chose our topic because as young ladies of African- American descent in middle school we feel that this topic is significant to our education and we wouldn't have the intelligence level we currently have if it wasn't for this remarkable case. Not only but also, we wanted to do a topic that was a major event and had an immense impact that we still see today. Our project displays multiple pieces of not only Brown v Board of Education but as well as Brown 2.
James Fallows, a proponents of having bilingualism in the U.S. Fallows claim that there is no need to declare English as the official language in the U.S. “because it already is that” (263). Fallows argues that English is already the most powerful language in this world, and obviously the immigrants knew that fact. Therefore, bilingual services will not reduce the incentive of immigrants to learn English. However, his argument is not fully correct. From 2000 to 2010, over 9 million immigrants came to America (Camarota). Because of this huge population of immigrants, most of the immigrants merely formed communities within their own ethnic or linguistic groups. In their communities, they can live well by speaking their native languages. Furthermore, when they are facing public problems, they have...
Mujica’s article, “Why the U.S Needs an Official Language,” the author clearly states his claim at the start of the article. Mujica illustrates the fact that English is slowly becoming the official natural language of the US even though there is no official declaration. The author uses sub-claims such as pointing out the fact that despite the multilingual nature of the American citizens many are embracing speaking English. Mujica uses examples from various sources to build up to his thesis, “given the globalization of English one might be tempted to ask why the United States would need to declare English its official language. Why organize something that is happening naturally and without government involvement?” (581)
In the beginning of the article, Richard started out by mentioning how his public language which is Spanish will not get him nowhere in life, however by learning a public language which is English will help more in life and make stuff way easier for him. He mentioned being scared and hard for him to learn a public society language. When I came to America 11 years ago, it was hard for me to learn a second language and I doubted myself all the time, however I had family members, teachers and friends pushing me to learn and telling me to not give up even
An ongoing battle of culture, freedom, and language occurs in America today. The battle is commonly called Bilingualism. The dictionary definition: being able to speak multiple languages. Though, when you dig deeper, you discover the hunger of differing tongues. Many people believe bilingualism should have a certain role in the public and education. One of these figures is Martin Espada who believe that bilingualism is also respecting one's culture. He believes that there should be more effort put into understanding different cultures and languages. An opposing figure to this is poet and author, Richard Rodriguez, who believes bilingualism should not be emphasized in the public and education system. Rather being able to speak one language and communicating is superior.
Most importantly, the Spanish language allows the learner to identify with the Spanish-speaking culture and analyze matters from that culture’s perspective; lack of understanding of the Spanish language bars effective communication with the 329 million people in the Spanish-speaking world and encumbers true access to their culture. Today, as the United States and many Spanish-speaking countries become more dependent on each other economically and politically, cultural sensitivity becomes increasingly necessary. Failure to consider the reasoning of Spanish-speaking cultures could result in futile negotiations and jeopardize foreign relations. Nevertheless, understanding of Spanish-speaking cultures is crucial in solving social dilemmas in the Hispanic world such as poverty, domestic strife between indigenous groups, and illiteracy. ...
One of the things that makes the United States of America the wonderful country that it is, is the melting pot of cultures and overall diversity. We are a country founded by immigrants, which originally formed this country after our independence from England, and even though we are a country that is diverse and divided in many ways, we share one common aspect, and that is the use of the English language. This is why legislation should be passed stating that English is the official language of the United States. While both sides of the issue offer valid points, it is very possible that the decision of placing English as the official language could be used as a middle ground between the two, whenever it comes to evaluating
Brittny Mejia, author of the article, “ 'You need to speak English': Encounters in viral videos show Spanish is still polarizing in the U.S.” explores the current contradictory impulses that the Spanish language has brought to America. Mejia describes how a young girl was shunned for having spoken to her mother in Spanish while out in public. Her family had been told that since they live in America, they should be speaking English (Mejia). The family ignored the warning and continued using both Spanish and English. In the past, people were scorned for speaking multiple languages, but ironically now, parents want their kids to be bilingual. There are countless families that “enroll their children in bilingual charter schools” in order to learn Spanish specifically to have the advantage in the job market (Mejia). Children are taught that being bilingual is an extraordinary trait and is something that they should take advantage of by making it their second tongue. Language continues to evolve with our culture and grow with our children and can be very surprising or even confusing when different generations learn exactly how much language has shifted in the relatively short amount of time between age