Ain't she beautiful?

I also worry about answers/views that are offered as so simple or obvious. They frequently conceal multiple agendas. And human affairs are seldom simple.

I think the majority of legal immigrants and even many illegal migrant workers do learn English. We seem to be focused on the minority that doesn't. I have to wonder about the agenda.

I don't want to see multiple "official languages" or the nonsense and expense of all official documents/signs in multiple languages. That can be a kind of political correctness carried too far. But I certainly don't want to see the language police like some French speaking areas of Canada where you can get a fine for too much English on your sign.

A few hundred years ago there were as many if not more German as English speakers in the US. It was a close call which became the official language. The fact that we have predominately one language in our culture and our schools is more a function of our watery borders than the fact that this is the right proper natural order of things. In countries with other languages right on the border, locals on both sides of the border tend to speak multiple language - at least a bit. Also, you will find English and other 2nd languages taught in foreign schools much more often than US schools. Seems a pretty poor way to prepare our youth to be competitive in an increasingly global market.

Also, I understand a major late 1800's era push to teach English and educate the children of immigrants was more about WASPy prejudice toward newer waves of more Mediterranean immigrants. Similar thing for the forceful taking of native-American children and fostering them with English-speaking parents. It wasn't pretty then, and similarly ugly motives under patriotic and "simple sounding" rallying cries today are still unpleasant.

Although there are many good reasons to be concerned about official languages, I think some of the most vocal protesters against spoken Spanish are a bit defensive because they don't want to admit that their own mono-linguism is a limitation.

It seems to me that there are win-win compromises here. 1) Some English-as-a-second-language instruction in schools can benefit the kids of English speaking citizens by increasing the language repertoire. 2) It can benefit the kids of migrant workers (legal or illegal) by ensuring they are educated in their native language against some future return to their home country. (Remember a sizable number of workers here want to make some money and return home to extended family, family lands, ... etc.) 3) It can help kids who don't speak English (but like most kids will be learning it pretty quick as they grow) to be current in reading, math, and other academic skills by the time they are ready for English-only instruction. I mean we don't want to spend so much time on having them fluent in English by the 4th grade only to have to put them in special-ed classes because they did not learn 2nd grade reading or math because it was only taught in English. 4) Some of the kids are citizens even if their parents aren't an some families will become legal residents and may even become citizens. The emphasis should be on the best education possible for our workforce and/or citizens to compete in a competitive global landscape.

Seems to me there are plenty of benefits to having a more multi-lingual society, and to having some 2nd language instruction in schools - especially as a transition/bridge to learning English. It does not have to be a clear-cut one way or the other situation. I worry that many who are very stringent in their views - on either side of the issue - may have unacknowledged and less palatable agendas. Not all, but maybe many.

North America is primarily English speaking. US English-speakers tend to be mono-linguistic. At the same time our birth rate is declining, our proportion of legal immigrant families is increasing, our trade is increasingly hemispheric and global. The majority of people in the western hemisphere speak Spanish not English. In most non-English speaking US populations, as in most Spanish-speaking western countries the birth-rate is not yet decreasing (it will in the future).

If this hemisphere is to compete against Pacific-rim markets, we will need good relations and trade with all our Spanish-speaking neighbors. Lets stop worrying so much about English as an official language, and start worrying more about raising multi-lingual kids, and bringing prosperity (now and in the future) to this hemisphere.

Lets find win-win solutions that look to the long term.