Lawmakers Debate Merits of Making English "Official"

WASHINGTON – At Columbus Elementary School in south Oklahoma City, nearly 60 percent of the students are Hispanic, and most are classified as having “limited English” skills. So bilingual programs are offered to help them learn subjects in Spanish while they’re also learning English.

In Los Angeles last year, the city paid a company $ 60,000 to translate sample election ballots into Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese.

And in Washington last year, the Internal Revenue Service distributed 500,000 income tax forms and instruction booklets in Spanish.

To some, these are simply examples of governments trying to help immigrants who are still making the transition to their new country.

But others, including a growing number of lawmakers, see a more ominous trend – a nation becoming divided over language differences. Success in this country depends on being able to speak the language, they say, and the government’s role should be to encourage immigrants to learn English.

Some members of Congress pointed to the emotional separatist vote last week in Quebec – the secession effort failed by a narrow margin – and said it was proof of the need to pass legislation establishing an official language in America.

“Allowing bilingualism to continue to grow is very dangerous,” House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., said. “We should insist on English as a common language. … That’s what binds us together. ” But Pat Fennell, the director of the Latino Community Development Agency in Oklahoma City, sees the whole issue of establishing a common language as misguided and unnecessary.

Fennell said she doesn’t know any Hispanic immigrants who don’t recognize the importance of learning English. Students learn it in school, and others take private classes, she said.

“I think if you’re going to live in this country, you need to learn English,” she said. “We promote the Hispanic community being bilingual. But it’s not something you learn overnight. ” Four bills in Congress are aimed at making English the official language.

One measure, by Missouri Republican Bill Emerson, has 189 co-sponsors in the U.S. House. Emerson is hoping to have 218 co-sponsors – a majority of the House – by the end of the year.

Five of the six Oklahoma House members have signed on; Rep. Steve Largent, R-Tulsa, is the only Oklahoman not co-sponsoring the measure.

Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, R-Kan., a presidential candidate, has also called for making English the official language. Sen. James Inhofe, R-Tulsa, is co-sponsoring an official English bill in the Senate.

Emerson’s bill would declare English to be the official language of the federal government; require the government to “preserve and enhance the role of English” as its official language; require the government to conduct its official business in English; prohibit taxpayer funding of publications, forms and ceremonies in other languages; and give citizens the right to sue if they’re denied the right to give or receive information from the government in English.

Emerson, who also has used Canada’s linguistic divide to pitch his bill, calls his legislation “a balanced, sensible approach to the common language issue. ” Two other bills would take the added step of abolishing bilingual election ballots and bilingual education programs funded by the federal government. According to the state Education Department, state schools received about $ 9 million last year for bilingual programs.

Two advocacy groups pushing for official language legislation – U.S. English and English First – are divided over the various bills, which also include a proposal for a constitutional amendment.

Mauro E. Mujica, chairman of U.S. English, told a House subcommittee last week his group is pushing for Emerson’s bill as a first step and wants to deal with bilingual education later. But Jim Boulet Jr., executive director of English First, said it was important to pass a bill getting rid of mandates for bilingual education.

Some lawmakers don’t see the point of passing any legislation, particularly since the 1990 census reported that only 2.9 percent of Americans spoke English either “not well” or “not at all. ” “Ninety-seven percent of the American people speak English,” Rep. Pat Williams, D-Mont., said last week. “Ninety-seven percent.

What’s the problem? ” Both sides of the debate have used as ammunition a recent General Accounting Office report that the Government Printing Office alone printed 265 publications in different languages from 1990 to 1994.

U.S. English called that “widespread printing of non-English government publications. ” But Williams said it proved that 99.4 percent of government documents are printed in English.

Advocates of an official English law say the real problems lie ahead.

Mujica said at a hearing last week, “The language barrier may soon become an insurmountable wall if the government’s non-policy continues unchecked. Census projections show that by the year 2050, more than 43 million people in the United States will be unable to speak English. ” Over the last five years, increased enrollment of minority students has accounted for all of the growth in Oklahoma schools, according to state education department figures.

While white student enrollment remained flat, Hispanic student enrollment has gone from 15,574 in the 1990-91 school year to 22,262 in the 1994-95 school year. Asian enrollment increased by about 1,000 students over that period, while American Indian enrollment grew by about 17,000 students.

Jon Dahlander, a spokesman for the state education department, said the $ 9 million for bilingual programs is divided among 50 programs; some school districts have more than one program. The money is spent on staff, training and materials, he said.

“The main objective is to teach English,” he said. But, he said, “You want to keep the learning process going. (Teachers) may want to teach the fundamentals of math in their native language. ” In Oklahoma City, Hispanic students make up nearly 13 percent of total enrollment, up from 9 percent in 1990-91.

Fennell, of the Latino Community Development Agency, said eliminating bilingual education would have a “dramatic impact” on students in the Hispanic community and was the wrong approach.

Instead, she said, the government should be encouraging all students to learn more languages.

An attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union said official English legislation could “fan the flames of prejudice” rather than inspiring unity.

But all seven of the people testifying for official English legislation at a House subcommittee hearing last week were immigrants.

Linda Chavez, president of the Center for Equal Opportunity, said, “What Hispanic activists fail to realize is that by opposing official English they are giving the 78 percent of Americans who support English the wrong impression of immigrants. The message that the rest of America receives from these activists is that immigrants don’t want to assimilate, don’t want to become Americans.

“This is a completely wrong perception. ” Twenty-two states have already adopted official English laws, according to U.S. English. A bill proposed in Oklahoma stalled this year.

The proposed federal laws don’t say anything about the quality of English required. People who read any government documents (or listen to congressional debate) might wonder sometimes what language is being used.

Nimi McConigley, who was born in India and now serves in the Wyoming Legislature, told a House subcommittee last week, “I spoke better English when I arrived than after 20 years of living in Wyoming. “



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