In a Labor Day speech, U.S. Sen. Bob Dole endorsed making English the nation’s official language and ending bilingual public education. The speech pandered to a growing belief, particularly among conservatives, that immigrants to this country are refusing to learn English and in essence refusing to become Americans.

That’s nonsense. The act of leaving one’s native country and emigrating to a foreign land is undertaken only by the most motivated. Immigrants come here determined to succeed, and they understand perfectly that success requires learning the English language.

Furthermore, there is no evidence whatsoever that immigrants of today are slower to learn English than those of 25 years ago or a century ago. To the contrary, since World War II, English has become the language of international diplomacy, business and entertainment, and immigrants have far more exposure to it by the time they reach our borders than they have at any other time in history.

Once in this country, immigrants do tend to seek reassurance and security by settling in ethnic enclaves where their native language and culture is to some degree conserved. But that phenomenon is hardly new, as the existence of countless “Chinatowns” and “Little Italys” across the country demonstrates. Furthermore, television penetrates those enclaves as no print medium ever could, bringing English into almost every home in the country, immigrant or native.

In other words, the problem that Dole proposes to cure does not exist. And the cure that he suggests would be extremely destructive.

Bilingual education is designed in part to teach subjects such as math and U.S. history in the student’s native language until he or she learns enough English to enter mainstream classes. Dole and others argue for the old-fashioned approach of putting those children into the mainstream immediately. It’s the educational equivalent of tossing kids into the pool and letting them sink or swim.

A certain number of the most intelligent and motivated probably would end up swimming. Those who sink, however, tend not to go down alone. They take other people down with them, by dropping out, turning to crime perhaps, or ending up on welfare.

Experience has shown that if we offer those children swimming lessons, and in the process increase the percentage of those who learn to swim, we have done those children and ourselves a great favor.

The sad part is, Dole probably knows that.



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