(ENGLISH: '-.".-::;. OUR OFFICIAL LANGUAGE?)

Edited by BEE GALLEGOS

THE REFERENCE SHELF

Volume 66 Number 2

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(}(;;-.;,._:\· . ~.-.l· BARNES',-)LLi.,GA ?:!) THE H. W. WILSON COMPANY

New York 1994 p 1/Cf.3;2.

~i.p'f THE REFERENCE SHELF CONTENTS Th' ~lf:in this series contain reprints of articles, excerpts from books, and addresses on current issues and social trends in the United States and other countries. There are six separately bound numbers in each volume, all of which are generally published m the same calendar }'ear. One number is a collection of recent speeches; each of the others is devoted to a single subject and gives background information and discus­ sion from various points of view, concluding with a comprehensive bibli­ 7 ography that contains books and pamphlets and abstracts of additional PREFACE ••.•...•..•..••.••..•.•..•...•••.•••••••••••• articles on the subject. Books in the senes may be purchased individually or on subscription. ~ t') I. ENGLISH ONLY Vs. ENGLISH PLus Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data fW) IV) Editor's Introduction ...... 9 English-our officiallangt!age? I edited by Bee Gallegos. Jamie B. Draper and Martha Jimenez. Language Debates p. em. - (The Reference shelf ; v. 66, no. 2) 10 Includes bibliographical references. ! in the United States ...... Epic Events ISBN 0-8242-0857-9 S. I. Hayakawa. One Nation ... Indivisible? ...... 1. Language policy-United States. 2. English language-United 15 States. 3. Language and education-United States. I. Gallegos, ...... The Washington Institute for Values in Public Policy Bee. II. Series. ~ Towards a United America ...... U.S. English 22 Pll9.32.U6E54 1994 u English Plus: Statement of Purpose Epic Events 24 f6.4'4973-dc20 94-7872 0 ...... CIP Leah Eskin. Pro-Con: Should English Be Our Official Language ...... Scholastic Updi.Ue 27 Cqver: The growing immigrant population of many U.S. cities has prompted newsstand owners to increase the number of foreign­ language publications they sell.

Photo: AP/Wide World Photos II. HISTORICAL, PoLITICAL, AND LEGAL IMPACTS Editor's Introduction ...... 29 Jack Citrin. Language Politics and American Identity ...... The Public Interest 30 James C. Stalker. Official English or English Only ...... English Journal 44 James Crawford. Official English Isn't As Good As It Sounds ...... American School Board Journal 52 Copyright© 1994 by The H. W. Wilson Company. All rights reserved. 59 No part of this work may be reproduced or copied in any form or by English Vs. Spanish in South Florida ...... CQResearcher any means, including but not restricted to graphic, electronic, and Karen L. Adams. White Supremacy or Apple Pie?: mechanical-for example, photocopying, recording, taping, or informa­ The Politics of Making English the Official Language tion and retrieval systems-without the express written permission of the of Arizona ...... Arizona English Bulletin 61 publisher, except that a reviewer may quote and a magazme or newspaper 68 ~y print brief p~sagesas part of a review written specifically for mclu­ Roberto Rodriguez. Against English Only ...... Hispanic uon m that magazme or newspaper. Harriet Chiang. English-Only Labels OK, Court Rules .... 69 Printed in the United States of America ...... San Francisco Chronicle 5 069170 86 The Reference Shelf English: Our Official ? 87 target of English-onlv lobbving groups, who fear it is a device for Hispanics in southern California suggests, simply acquiring En­ minoritv language maintenance rather than for an orderlv transi­ glish is not bringing the educational and economic successes tion to English. Troubling to teachers as well is the fan that bilin­ promised by the melting-pot myth. Linguistic assimilation may gual pmgrams are often poorlv defined, underfunded, and inad­ simply not be enough to overcome more deep-seated prejudices equatelv stalled. while parents and students frequentlv regard against Hispanics. bilingual as a euphemism for t·emedial. In its defense, we can say 1'\onetheless, there are many minority-language speakers 111 that second language education did not come into its own in this the CS, and with continued immigration they will continue to country until after \'\'orld War II. Bilingual education, along with make their presence felt. The 19HO Census showed that one 111 other programs designed to teach English as a second language, seven Americans speaks a language other than English, or lives at·e reallv the first attempts bv American schools in more than two with someone who does. Even if the courts do not strike down centuries to deal directly with the pmblem of non-English speak­ English-onlv laws, it would be difficult to legislate minority lan­ ing children. Thev represent the first attempts to t·evise language guages out of existence because we simplv ha\·e no mechanisms in education in an effort to keep children in school: to keep them this country to carry out language policy of anv kind (schools, from repeating the depressing and wasteful pattern of failure which are under local and state control, have been remarkablv experienced by earlier generations of immigrants and non­ erratic in the area of language education). On the other hand, anglophone natives: to get them to respect t·ather than revile both even in the absence of restrictive language legislation, American English, frequentlv perceived as the language of oppression, and society enforces its own irresistible pressure to keep the Lnited their native tongue. all too often rejected as the language of pov­ States an English-speaking nation. The Census also reports that ertv and failure. 97 percent of Americans identify themselves as speaking English · T)espite resistance to bilingual education and problems with well or verY well. English mav not be official, but it is definitely its implementation, the theory behind it remains sound. Children here to stav. who learn reading, arithmetic, and othet· subjects in their native If the ,;ast cvcles of protective legislation for English are any language while they are being taught English will not be as likelY indication, whatever happens in the present debate m·er the English to fall behind their anglophone peers, and will ha\·e little diffi­ Language Amendment to the CS Constitution and in similar de­ culty transferring their subject-matter knowledge to English. as bates at the state level is likely to be minimallv disrupti,·e and only their English proficiency increases. On the other hand, when temporary. The issue of minority languages will not soon go away, nonanglophone children or those with \·en· limited English are and a constitutional amendment cannot force people to adopt immersed in English-only classrooms and left to sink or swim, as English if they are unwilling or unable to do so. !'\or will English they were for generations, they will continue to fail at unaccept­ cease to function as the nation's official language even if it does not able rates. have a constitutional amendment to establish it ....

English i.1 Here to Stay

Those Americans who fear that unless English is made the official language of the C nited States bv means of federal and state con­ LEGISLATING ASSIMILATIOJ'\: THE 1 stitutional amendments they are about to be swamped by new ENGLISH-01'\LY MOVEMEJ'\T waves of non-English-speakers should realize that even without restrictive legislation, minoritY languages in the CS have always been marginal. Research shows that Hispanics, who now consti­ Contention between people who speak different languages is tute the nation's largest minority-language group, are adopting as old as the story of Babel. The ancient Greeks referred to those English in the second and third generation in the same way that

speakers of German, Italian, Yiddish, Russian, Polish, Chinese or ·~Articlehv !\lark R. Halton. From The Lhrl\luw Cnllun· !\ L~J.l9H~~. (:opyrig-ht Japanese have done in the past. Howe,·er, as the experience of © 19H9 Christian Century Foundation. Reprinted hy permission. ~

88 The Reference Shelf English: Our Official Language? 89

who spoke in other tongues as "the babblers." Ancient Slavs called English. which claims 350.000 members. cites the "political up­ the Ger·mans across their border "the mute" or "unspeaking" peo­ heavals over language that ha\·e torn apart Canada, Belgium, Sri ple. Today, C.S. residents whose primar·y language is other than Lanka ... and other nations" as a reason to ban the use of "manv English-especially Spanish speakers-are being regarded as languages" for official purposes. . "un-American.·· 1\fost opponents of the English-onlv mm·ement-such as the A pitched battle is under way between those who consider Mexican-American Legal Defense Fund and the C.S. Catholic that, for the sake of America's cohesion, English must be legis­ Conference's Secretariat for Hispanic :\flairs-are not against iGttes. (;eorge xenophobic. The main goals of the English-onlv movement are to Muiioz, writing· in the Chimgo Sun-Times. has said, "Opposition to eliminate or limit bilingual education in the public schools; to English-onlv is not from a desire to stav apart; most Hispanics prevent state or local governments from spending funds for want to integrate. But thev don't want to be denied access to the translating road signs or government documents or for transla­ mainstream while thev're learning English." Mur1oz argues that tors to assist non-English-speaking patients at public hospitals; it's not the language of communication that should be important and to abolish multilingual ballots-required in 375 jurisdictions to the gmenllnt'nt but wht'ther the gm·ernment can make itself bv the 19():) Voting Rights Act. Florida, Colorado and Arizona­ understood bv all. states with large Hispanic populations-voted in referendums The recent English-onlv mm·ement got its start in 1\!iami­ last vear to make English the official language, bringing the num­ per·haps the most bilingual major citv in the C.S.-in l~J7H,after ber of states with such laws to 17. Emmv Shafer was unable to communicate with anv of the derks In contrast. l\ew Mexico's legislature voted down an English­ at the Dade Count\ municipal offices. Thev all spc;ke onlv Span­ cnlv law ... and endorsed "English Plus" stating, "Proficiencv on ish; she, onlv Eng·lish. Her protest led to passage of a 19HO countv the part of our citizens in more than one language is to the eco­ law stipulating that no funds could be used to translate public nomic and cultural benefit of our State and the l\ation." signs or documents into Spanish or other non-English languages. But what does "English onlv" mean~That question is being But Miami is a special case. It contains the majoritv of the raised in California, where voters approved a language law .... countn\ Cuban-Americans. who compose about:> percent of the This vear [I ~JH9],a legislative committee rejected a bill that would U.S. His panic population. Thn ha\·e largelv avoided assimilating ha\·e banned the use of languages other than English bv state and because t hev consider themseh es exiles of Cuba, still awaiting the local government agencies. Also, a state senate committee, re­ fall of the Castro government to return home. Puerto Ricans sponding to the C .S. Equal Emplovment Opportunity Commis­ living in Miami, on the other hand, reponedlv are learning En­ sion, enacted a law prohibiting private companies from restrict­ glish quickh, mam of them ning for well-paving bilingual jobs. ing their emplovees' use of non-English languages while at work, On the whole, language assimilation in the C.S. has followed a unless necessarv for business reasons. In !9HH the Los Angeles four-generation pattern, according to Kenneth \Vilson in l{w federal appeals court, countering some companies' English-onlv Winkle\ Return: Change in ilmniuw r,·ngli.lh, 1966-1986. Between rules, said such restrictions are not onlv a veiled form of discrimi­ IH90 and I ~!20.for example, hundreds of thousands of Poles nation but a wav of increasing racism.· emigrated to the L.S. :\ tvpical Polish couple (call them the The groups that have led the fight "to protect English by Pomykalskis) might ha\·e arrived in 1\:ew York Citv in I ~~O~Jwith an declaring it the official language of the Cnited States" are C.S. infant son and e\·entualh settled in Chicago where thev spoke English (whose co-founder, S. I. Hayakawa. is a former C.S. sena­ only Polish at work, at mass, in the shops and, of course. at home. tor from California and a retired professor of linguistics) and But in a few vears their son spoke English at school, starting in English First, part of the Committee to Protect the Familv. These first grade, while speaking Polish at home and at his after-school groups are on the offensive, claiming that thev are trving to help job. He and his Polish friends became bilingual and did not have non-English speakers get ahead economically and socially. li.S. an accent in either language.

UG ~) 17 0 90 The Reference Shelf English: Our Official Language? 91

He got married to his high school sweetheart in 1928-a Pole And a study by the RAND corporation reveals that language­ who had emigrated with her parents when she was 13 years old­ assimilation statistics for Hispanic immigrants are in line with the and the two spoke English at home, she with a slight accent. With history of the Polish family discussed above. Nearly half the per­ their parents they spoke Polish. Their children, the grand­ manent Mexican immigrants living in California speak English children of the immigrant Pomykalskis, spoke English at home well, and only about 25 percent speak Spanish exclusively. For the and at school, and used Polish only when speaking to Grand­ most part, their American-born children are bilingual and 90 mother in the kitchen. In each domain of language-school, so­ percent are proficient in English. Over half of their grand­ cial life, work, church and family-the use of Polish diminished. children speak only English. David Lopez, a professor at UCLA, The original Pomykalskis's great-granddaughter was born in concludes that if immigration from Latin America dried up today 1956 in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio. She grew up speaking no (not likely to happen), language assimilation by Hispanics would Polish and has very little connection to her Polish heritage. She is be complete by the year 2030. Leonard Dinnerstein and David M. thoroughly enculturated in American ways and language. As Wil­ Reimers in Ethnic Americans: A History of Immigration and Assimila­ son says, "Wistfully, this generation hopes to recover some lin­ tion believe that "with so much more public assistance available guistic access to a culture that now ... they wish they knew bet­ than had been given to immigrants in previous generations, it is ter." possible that the newcomers may not need as long a time to move Some immigrants have defied assimilation. Hasidic Jews in into the mainstream of American society." Brooklyn speak Yiddish, and some Amish in the Midwest speak a The issue that most divides the English-only advocates and German dialect; they have chosen to live on linguistic islands. their opponents is bilingual education. Former President Reagan Finnish and Scandinavian immigrants in rural communities in the spoke against it. Congress has debated it. Newspaper op-ed pages ntrthern Midwest did not quickly assimilate for geographical rea­ and radio talk shows have discussed it. "Bilingual education" is sons. But the commercial and societal forces shaping Hispanic really a misnomer, since the goal of such programs is not to pro­ immigration over the past 35 years suggest a different scenario duce bilingual students, but to make Hispanic, Chinese or Viet­ for these immigrants. namese students proficient in English while drawing on their own Social and economic constraints have cut off many Hispanics native language as a transitional tool. U.S. English and other from mainstream American-that is, Anglo-culture. Hispanic groups claim that bilingual education helps perpetuate adher­ women who work only in the home have had limited contact with ence to non-English tongues. But the National Association for U.S. culture, and language programs sponsored by local govern­ Bilingual Education points to research revealing the advantages ments or businesses rarely reach them. Furthermore, in many of of bilingual education: when students participate for an average the largest U.S. cities one fmds Spanish-language radio, TV and of two to three years researchers notice "improved academic newspapers, and videocassettes, billboards and even grocery and achievement test scores, reduced rates of school dropout and stu­ department store labels in Spanish-not to promote Spanish but dent absenteeism, increased community involvement in educa­ simply to sell goods. English-only legislation would not change tion, and enhanced student self-esteem." these realities. Many older people who emigrated to the U.S. when they were But despite the social and commercial forces leading Hispan­ in grade school were thrown into English-only classrooms and ics away from assimilation, recent studies have concluded that made to swim or sink. They claim that all their immigrant peers first- and second-generation Hispanics have learned English as learned to swim, and quickly. However, no studies were done at fast as Italians, Russians, Greeks, Romanians or Japanese immi­ the time to determine how many immigrant children sank­ grants did at the turn of the century. An editorialist in the Wall dropping out of school or never living up to their potential. Lan­ Street journal reports that an analysis of 1980 census data by pro­ guage acquisition can be a slow arduous process for many. And fessors at the Urban Institute and the University of Chicago re­ there is more to education than learning a language. Learning veals that while a great majority of Hispanics over the age of 25 math, science, music or art in one's native language gives a stu­ speak Spanish at home, most also speak English with proficiency. dent skills readily transferable to the English-speaking world. A 93 92 The Reference Shelf English: Our Official Language? student does not need to relearn the subjects taug-ht in Spanish when later reviewing them in English. \\'ORKPL\CE L\:\CL\GE RCLES I Though the C .S. has ne1·er had an official policv of intmduc­ ing English to immigrants. language assimilation has alwavs been startlingh rapid. KenJi Hakuta in ,\1/rror of !J111guage: The /)e/wtP Some emplovers impose restrictions against the use of alan­ 1111 llilingua/i,m credits ecforeign language in a work­ their mot her tongues. :\not her reason cited is that education a! place is inappropriate: English has been made the official lan­ ps1chologists urged immigrant parents to a1oid speaking a non­ guage of their state and safetY and public relations require that English language at home on the false premise that bilingualism onh English be spoken. stunts the academic gnmth of children. \\'hile no linguists tout Can emplovers l;ndully regulate language in the workplace~ this theon· todav. mam proponents of the English-onlv mm·e­ It is largeh an unsettled issue. There are onh a few court deci­ ment still belie1·e that there is room for but one language in a sions on the matter. Cuidelines issued bv the Equal Employment voung person's mind. OpportunitY Commission (EEOC) indicate that prohibiting em­ When immigrants poured into America in the l 'lth century plmLT' from speaking a langu~tgeother than English amounts to one of three scenarios could haYe plaved out .. \merican culture national origin bias under the Ci1il Rights :\ct. However, the could ha1e transformed the immigrants ( :\mericanitat ion or guidelines permit language restrictions if thev constitute a "busi­ assimilation); the culture could ha1e been transformed In the ness necessit v." l t •dwuld he noted 1 hat EEOC guidelines do not immigrants (melting pot); or the culture could ha1e split. into ha1e the force of la11·hut courts look to them for direction. v·paratist groups. For mer 150 vears the pattern has been one of .-\ ct-,e that followed EEOC guidelines held that a California :;ssimilation, "a mm·e." Dinnerstein and Reimers write, "into the meat p~td,ingcom(MII\ 's requirement that employees speak onlv mainstream of :\merican life [requiring] the relinquishment of English on the plant floor 1iolated the C:i1·il Rights :\ct. Lp to fiO cherished cultural ties." Immigrants start in separate groups-as percent of the conq>Spanish language churche., and !luenn 11a., not rcquitTd for hiring. But management issued an marning other llispanics-but 11·ithin four generations thev as­ English-onll requirement, maintaining the rule was necessan to similate. no longn cdling themsehes. for ex~unple.Polish­ a1·oid friction among emplmen. improYe plant safe tv and in­ Americans but simplY .\mnicans. crease producti1it1. The EEOC found that the companY discrimi­ Political unit\, communication and transportation svstems nated on the basis of national origin and retaliated against ami financial factors 11ill keep the L .S. an English-speaking- na­ Spanish-speaking employees ll\ establishing the rule. tion. English does not need to be leg-islated the official language: A federal district court agreed with the EEOC, saying that gentlet· forces than those proposed ll\ English-onh proponents there 11ere less restrictiYe alternatiYes available to increase em­ will produce that end .. \s the l'.S. enters the ·~Hh.a new aware­ plovee producti1·itv and discipline. The court obser1ed that a ness of other cultures' music. language. custom-.. food, electronic 19Hfi amendment to the California constitution declaring that goods and nen political 11avs is transforming our life. There is a English is the state's official language may ha1·e raised "emplover growing realitation that .\mericans of northern European de­ consciousness" to the English-onh rules and "emboldened them, scent ha1e much to learn from l'.S. residents of Latin American improperlY. to take those risb." It also obser1ed that the state or :\sian backgrounds. Perhaps in the:! lst centun the strict as­ legislature did not pass am l;m to enforce the constitutional similation patterns of the past will vield to more "melting"-the amendment. (Garcia \'S. Spun Steak Co., DC. :'\. Calif.. l\'. mixing of cultures in a 11av that changes the fla1·or of the entire C9!-l949RHS) societ v.

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Reprinted IJ\ pctml~:-.tollof t: :'\,t!Ioll;il Rc..,c.tn h Bllleau.