Gingrich Assails American Bilingualism As "Dangerous"

Politics: Speaker cites Canada as example of how differences split a nation. Critics say his call for English as official language will hurt immigrants.

WASHINGTON—The vote in Quebec on secession from Canada should stand as a clear warning to Americans about the threat that bilingualism poses to unity in the United States, House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) said Monday.

“Allowing bilingualism to continue to grow is very dangerous,” Gingrich said after addressing a technology and business forum at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. “We should insist on English as a common language. . . . That’s what binds us together.”

Clinton Administration officials took issue with Gingrich’s statement.

“I think comparing (bilingualism) in Canada and the United States is like comparing apples and oranges,” said Dang Pham, acting director of the Education Department’s Office of Bilingual Education. Pham stressed that while Canada has two official languages, English is the one national language of the United States.

“Besides, in the United States, language is not the true bond,” Pham said. “The true bonds are our shared values of freedom, democracy and human rights. That is truly the glue that helps people stick together.”

Gingrich said Congress probably will vote on a measure next year that would make English the official language of the United States.

Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) also has embraced the idea of making English the official language of the country.

“With all the divisive forces tearing at our country, we need the glue of language to help hold us together,” Dole said in a Labor Day speech to the American Legion in Indianapolis. “If we want to ensure that all our children have the same opportunities in life, alternative language education should stop and English should be acknowledged once and for all as the official language of the United States.”

The Administration, however, has argued that English already operates as the official language of the United States and it has been critical of congressional attempts to curtail bilingual education.

“Obviously English is our national language,” Education Secretary Richard W. Riley said about the congressional measures. “New immigrants are clamoring to learn it as fast as they can. All over America, people are standing in lines and placing their names on waiting lists to take English and literacy classes.”

The average time non-English-speaking children spend in federally funded bilingual education classes is 2.7 years, according to the Education Department. Currently, about 325,000 of the 2.7 million students who are limited in their English proficiency across the country are in federally funded bilingual education classes.

More than 20% of the almost 6 million students in California’s schools have limited English proficiency. Most of the funding to teach students with limited English proficiency comes from state and local governments.

“It would be sheer folly to deny millions of schoolchildren the opportunity to learn English at a time when the need is greatest,” Riley said. “Unfortunately, these efforts to make English the ‘official’ language and to eliminate programs that teach English are more about politics than improving education.”

Advocates for immigrants have accused Gingrich and other GOP lawmakers who support the efforts to restrict bilingual education and make English the official language of fanning the flames of divisiveness.

“We already have a common language and it is English. No one disputes that. This is making a mountain out of a molehill to somehow imply that English is in danger,” said Karen Hanson, a policy analyst for the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic civil rights organization that lobbies Congress on issues that affect immigrants. “It’s political pandering to those people who feel uneasy about the current state of immigration in this country. It is capitalizing on some of the anti-immigrant sentiment in the country.”

Measures that would either prevent federal funding for bilingual education or make English the official language of the United States government have been introduced in Congress. Hearings on the bills are now under way.

The congressional measure that has gathered the most support is probably a bill sponsored by Rep. Bill Emerson (R-Mo.) that would declare English the official language of the federal government and ban the use of tax dollars to print forms in languages other than English. Emerson’s office said that the legislation has 189 co-sponsors.

Another measure would require all federal publications to be printed in English, abolish the federal Office of Bilingual Education and prohibit the use of languages other than English in citizenship ceremonies.



Comments are closed.