Blogging from Shanghai, part 11

Students enrolled in the graduate law program here at the East China University of Political Science and Law are required to learn English and to pass an English proficiency test. All of my lectures here at the university have been in English. In fact, many of the law students here take other foreign languages as well, such as Italian.

What a great concept: encouraging students to learn at least one second language and promoting the value of learning other languages in our global economy and society. What a contrast with the backward, anti-immigrant English-Only movement in the United States.

The modern English-only movement has met with rejection from the Linguistic Society of America, which passed a resolution in 1986–87 opposing “‘English only’ measures on the grounds that they are based on misconceptions about the role of a common language in establishing political unity, and that they are inconsistent with basic American traditions of linguistic tolerance.”

Linguist Geoffrey Pullum, in an essay entitled “Here come the linguistic fascists” charges English First with “hatred and suspicion of aliens and immigrants” and points out that English is far from under threat in the United States, saying “making English the official language of the United States of America is about as urgently called for as making hotdogs the official food at baseball games.”

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has stated that “English Only” laws are inconsistent with both the First Amendment right to communicate with or petition the government, and the right to equality because they bar government employees from providing non-English language assistance and services.  On August 11, 2000, [President Bill Clinton signed Executive Order 13166, “Improving Access to Services for Persons with Limited English Proficiency.” The Executive Order requires Federal agencies to examine the services they provide, identify any need for services to those with limited English proficiency (LEP), and develop and implement a system to provide those services so LEP persons can have meaningful access to them.

While the judicial system has noted that the laws are largely symbolic and non prohibitive, public school staff often interpret them to mean English is the mandatory language of daily life. In one instance, an elementary school bus driver prohibited students from speaking Spanish on their way to school after Colorado passed its legislation. In Scottsdale, a teacher claimed to be enforcing English immersion policies when she allegedly slapped students for speaking Spanish in class. In Kansas City, a student was suspended for speaking Spanish in the school hallways.

We should be promoting bilingualism. The modern English-only movement has its roots in part with Dr. John Tanton and Senator S. I. Hayakawa who founded a political lobbying organization, U.S. English. Tanton was the founder of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), an immigration reductionist group. That may be all we need to know about why the English-only movement should be resisted.

bh