[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 20 (Tuesday, March 1, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 1, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                      THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST ENGLISH

                                 ______


                             HON. TOBY ROTH

                              of wisconsin

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, March 1, 1994

  Mr. ROTH. Mr. Speaker, we Americans represent every language, every 
culture, every heritage on Earth. Yet we are one people, one Nation. 
Why? Because we share a common bond, the English language.
  Now, unfortunately, we are losing this cohesion, this unique American 
blessing. In the last election in Los Angeles, ballots were printed in 
six different languages. In many places in America, English is no 
longer the first language in school. The National Clearinghouse for 
Bilingual Education estimates that 40 million Americans will be non-
English-language proficient in just 8 years.
  America is fast becoming a multilingual society, and with it we will 
inherit all the problems that stem from this development--ethnic 
strife, more discrimination and entrenched poverty--the creation of an 
entire subculture that is unprepared to compete in mainstream America.
  The solution is to return to our tradition of assimilating, through 
English, new immigrants into American society. In the past our new 
citizens were integrated without sacrificing their ethnic heritage. As 
Linda Chavez, former Director of the U.S. Commission on Civil rights, 
points out; ``For the overwhelming majority of immigrant children, 
learning English was the first and most crucial step on the road to 
becoming `American.'''
  How are we currently helping these children take hold of the American 
dream? Instead of a first-rate education in English, we provide these 
unfortunate students failed bilingual education programs--at a cost of 
some billion dollars annually to you, the American taxpayer.
  These misguided policies condemn immigrants to second-class status. 
This reality was made clear by Ernesto Ortiz, a Texas ranch foreman who 
said: ``My children learn Spanish in school so they can grow up to be 
busboys and waiters. I teach them English at home so they can grow up 
to be doctors and lawyers.''
  Ernesto Ortiz realizes that English is essential for success in 
America. Similarly, in a recent San Francisco Chronicle poll, the vast 
majority of Filipino, Chinese, and Hispanic immigrants in California 
supported declaring English as our official language. We must all 
embrace this cause.
  Linguistic differences often foreshadow more dangerous divisions. 
Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., has noted: ``What happens when people of 
different ethnic origins, speaking different languages * * * settle in 
the same [area] and live under the same political sovereignty? Unless a 
common purpose binds them together, tribal hostilities will drive them 
apart.'' The strife in the Balkans has demonstrated the danger. Is 
America following Yugoslavia's path? Dare we take the chance?
  Only by preserving our commonality--English--can we ensure that we 
will continue to live and work together as one Nation, one people.
  Americans are united on this question. A recent phone-in survey 
conducted by USA Today Weekend Magazine showed that 97 percent of the 
respondents wanted Congress to make English our official language. 
After I appeared on the Bob Grant call-in show in New York to promote 
English as America's official language, my office was deluged with 
hundreds of calls from all over the Nation, overwhelmingly in favor of 
this cause.
  In Wisconsin, a recent telephone poll on WAOW TV-9 in Wausau showed 
that 87 percent of respondents endorsed English as our official 
language. I'm proud to take up their fight by introducing the 
Declaration of Official Language Act. It's time Congress showed as much 
common sense as the American people.
  This month's edition of the American Legion magazine contains an 
article that I commend to the attention of my colleagues. It summarizes 
the current threat our common language faces. I urge my colleagues to 
read this article, and I ask that it be printed in full at this point 
in the Record.

           [From the American Legion Magazine, February 1994]

                      The Campaign Against English

                           (By Gary Turbank)

       On July 2 last year, 76 Hispanic immigrants gathered in the 
     Tucson, Ariz., city council chambers to become naturalized 
     Americans. Although the brief citizenship oaths and 
     naturalization documents were in English, most of the 
     ceremony took place in Spanish--including the pledge of 
     allegiance, a message from U.S. District Judge Alfredo 
     Marquez and a welcome from the Daughters of the American 
     Revolution.
       In essence, these immigrants received their U.S. 
     citizenship in Spanish, the first ever to do so.
       ``This is multiculturalism run amok,'' says George 
     Tryfiates, executive director of the English First advocacy 
     group, and the son of Greek immigrants. ``Will the 
     Immigration and Naturalization Service now conduct ceremonies 
     in Farsi, Serbo-Croatian and Laotian, too?
       The Tucson incident is but one shot in an ongoing fight 
     over the primacy of English in this country. In schools, 
     government offices, voting booths and scores of other places, 
     English in America is rapidly giving ground to other tongues. 
     Inexorably, foreign languages find new ways to replace the 
     mother tongue that gave us the Constitution, Declaration of 
     Independence and Gettysburg Address.
       English has long been the glue holding multicultural 
     America together, but now that unity is threatened. Daily, 
     the battle to keep English as America's language becomes more 
     heated.
       ``America is fast becoming a society divided by language,'' 
     says Rep. Toby Roth of Wisconsin, chief sponsor of a bill to 
     make English the official language of the United States. 
     Although 14 other nations--from India to Uganda to Vanuatu--
     have declared English their official language, the United 
     States has never done so.
       Naturally, some Americans who speak other languages see 
     things differently. They believe the American government 
     should speak in a multitude of tongues. To their ears, the 
     mingling of languages creates a symphony, not a cacophony. 
     America, they say, is not a homogeneous melting pot, but 
     rather a salad bowl, where each ingredient should retain its 
     distinctive qualities.
       ``Ethnic communities and their languages and cultures add 
     something unique and very positive to the flavor of the 
     United States,'' says Steven Carbo, spokesman for the Mexican 
     American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. ``We should 
     promote multilingual policies, not English-only policies.''
       The United States has always been a land of immigrants. 
     Most learned English in a ``sink or swim'' acceptance of 
     their new home's mother tongue. That attitude still prevails, 
     but many modern newcomers--or at least some of their vocal 
     leaders--believe America should adapt to them instead of the 
     other way around.
       This may explain why there are growing numbers of foreign-
     speaking families in the United States. According to the 1990 
     census, the number of people living in America who speak a 
     language other than English in their homes jumped more than a 
     third during the 1980s--to nearly 32 million, or one out of 
     eight U.S. residents. America is home to at least 150 
     different tongues.
       The erosion of English is most apparent in America's public 
     schools since the 1960s, when the federal Bilingual Education 
     Act directed millions of children to be taught in other 
     languages--mostly Spanish.
       Theoretically, children with limited English proficiency 
     (LEP) will be better students if they study science, math and 
     other subjects in their native languages while learning 
     English on the side. After a year or two, they are supposed 
     to switch to an all-English curriculum.
       The only problem with bilingual education is that it is 
     generally considered a failure. The program ``is a flop at 
     what we have asked it to do--teach students English,'' says 
     Congressman Roth.
       LEP students often remain in native language classes for 
     several years, and some never do learn English. According to 
     the English First organization, it's possible for a teenager 
     to graduate from a public school in New York City without 
     ever gaining English fluency.
       Before the bilingual program started, half of all Hispanic 
     students dropped out of high school. Today, after 25 years of 
     bilingual education, a report by the American Council on 
     Education says the Hispanic dropout rate is still 50 
     percent--a rate much higher than for either whites or blacks. 
     Recently, The Boston Globe reported that the Hispanic dropout 
     rate in that city is actually higher for students in the 
     bilingual program than for those who don't participate in it.
       In California, a 1993 report by the Little Hoover 
     Commission called bilingual education ``divisive, wasteful, 
     and unproductive.'' The commission said the number of non-
     English speaking students in the state today has doubled to 
     more than a million since 1987. However, the commission said 
     the bilingual program annually turns out the same number of 
     fluent English speakers--60,000--as it did a decade ago.
       Christine Rossell, professor of political science at Boston 
     University, has evaluated 79 different studies of bilingual 
     education's effectiveness. None of these, she says, found 
     bilingual education to be any better than the sink-or-swim 
     method of immersing children in English.
       According to the LEAD (Learning English Advocates Drive) 
     organization, some schools even put children into bilingual 
     classrooms solely on the basis of their Hispanic- or Asian-
     sounding last names--regardless of the youngsters' English 
     skills. One Hispanic mother in Glenwood, Calif., made five 
     trips to her school before she got her English-speaking 
     daughter out of a class taught in Spanish.
       The program even angers parents it is supposed to please. 
     In the book, ``Straight Shooting,'' by Boston University 
     President John Silber, Texas ranch foreman Ernesto Ortiz 
     expresses his dismay: ``My children learn Spanish in school 
     so they can grow up to be busboys and waiters,'' he says. ``I 
     teach them English at home so they can grow up to be doctors 
     and lawyers.''
       In one Florida poll, 98 percent of Hispanic parents thought 
     it was important for their children to read and write English 
     ``perfectly.'' In another, Hispanic parents rated 70 items of 
     importance to their children's education. Teaching them 
     English ranked third, and teaching Spanish ranked 67th.
       Critics say bilingual education continues only because it 
     enjoys an entrenched constituency of bureaucrats, 
     administrators, teachers, ethnic activists and other adults 
     who benefit from it. The program provides jobs for bilingual 
     teachers, and each enrolled child nets the school about $400 
     in federal funds. Nationally, bilingual education cost 
     taxpayers an estimated $1.5 billion annually.
       ``I call it bilingualgate,'' says Sally Peterson, a long-
     time California teacher who is the president of LEAD.
       English is in retreat on other fronts, too. A federal law 
     requires election ballots and other voter information to be 
     printed in languages spoken either by 10,000 people or by 5 
     percent of the population in a voting jurisdiction.
       Currently, 375 jurisdictions in 21 states run elections in 
     English and at least one other language. Voting materials in 
     San Francisco are available in seven languages. In Los 
     Angeles, the $6 million cost of the 1993 city election 
     included $900,000--15 percent of the total--for printing 
     multilingual materials. When Long Beach, Calif., spent $6,200 
     preparing bilingual voting materials for four ballot 
     measures, officials received only 22 requests for the 
     publications--a cost of $281 per non-English voter.
       Federal statutes also require government-funded document 
     translations and courtroom interpreters for non-English-
     speaking defendants in criminal trials. Some jurisdictions 
     extend this service to civil cases.
       Hawaii and New Mexico have even granted official status to 
     Hawaiian and Spanish. Although unenforced, New Mexico has a 
     constitutional requirement that all the state's teachers be 
     fluent in Spanish and English.
       Nearly 40 states give written and sometimes behind-the-
     wheel driver's license exams in languages other than English. 
     Michigan offers its written test in 20 tongues, including 
     Arabic, Finnish and Portuguese and, if necessary, will 
     provide an interpreter for the actual driving exam. Its road 
     signs, of course, are not written in 20 different languages.
       Nationally, the GED high school equivalency test is 
     available in English, Spanish and French, and plans are 
     underway to add more languages. Some American colleges also 
     conduct classes for non-English speakers.
       California state agencies must accommodate speakers of 
     other languages--even by hiring bilingual employees, if 
     necessary. Depending on the linguistic preferences of local 
     populations, printed information about food stamps, workers' 
     compensation, taxes and other subject in California must be 
     available in English, Spanish, Vietnamese and other tongues.
       In 1988, Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis 
     even delivered part of his acceptance speech in Spanish.
       Although most Americans probably don't care what language 
     people speak in their homes and other private places, it is 
     difficult not to notice the changing tenor of the 
     marketplace. Everything from Burger King menus to the phone 
     book Yellow Pages have been printed in languages other than 
     English, and many retailers advertise in their primary 
     tongue.
       In Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Colorado, California and 
     several other states, radio and television stations broadcast 
     primarily or exclusively in Polish, Greek, German, American 
     Indian, Portuguese and other languages. There are nearly 350 
     Spanish radio stations in this country. The Los Angeles 
     Dodgers broadcast their games in Spanish, Korean, Chinese 
     and--yes--English.
       In the workplace, more and more employees are demanding the 
     right to speak--and be spoken to--in their native tongues. 
     Last year, the Nebraska legislature considered a bill to 
     require every employer with four or more non-English-speaking 
     workers to provide a translator. The bill was tabled.
       Jose Fabila, the son of Mexican immigrants, disagrees with 
     this approach. His California food company employs 103 
     people. ``You don't have to speak English to work for me,'' 
     he says. ``But if you want to be a salesman, front office 
     worker, route supervisor or a driver on our best routes, you 
     have to know English. If I did not speak English, my business 
     would not be as prosperous as it is.''
       If there is an epicenter to the language earthquake, it is 
     Miami and Dade County, Fla., where more than half the people 
     consider Spanish their first language.
       In 1973, the area's governing body--the Metro Commission--
     ruled that Dade County would henceforth be bilingual and 
     bicultural. Translators annually turned thousands of pages of 
     English public documents into Spanish, and vice versa. 
     Interpreters' voices echoed at meetings and conferences. 
     Radio stations even aired Spanish public service 
     annuncements--prepared at taxpayer expense--encouraging 
     better use of Spanish by Miamians
       In 1980, Emmy Shafer, an immigrant and survivor of a Nazi 
     concentration camp, because upset with Miami's extensive use 
     of Spanish. She organized a drive to reinstate English as the 
     only official language, and Dade County voters approved the 
     measure with a 59 percent majority.
       But that's not the end of the story. In May 1993, a 
     Hispanic-dominated Metro Commission threw out the 1980 
     English-only ordinance, returning Dade county to 
     bilingualism. One commissioner has even proposed that many 
     government services be provided in up to six additional 
     languages.
       The increasing use of other tongues has triggered a 
     substantial backlash among Americans who think English should 
     be the language of the United States, Various polls indicate 
     that more than three-fourths of all Americans believe English 
     should be the official language of government and anyone who 
     wants to live in this country should learn English. Eighteen 
     states have made English their official language, and 20 
     others have considered similar measures. In 1987, Arkansas 
     Gov. Bill Clinton signed into law a statute making English 
     the state's official language. In most cases, however, these 
     designations are largely ceremonial, since official English 
     laws often lack enforcement teeth, and bureaucrats seem 
     universally reluctant to implement English-only policies.
       H.R. 739, a bill currently under consideration in Congress, 
     would make English the nation's official language. In 
     addition to requiring that all business of the federal 
     government be conducted in English, the measure would repeal 
     statutes that mandate bilingual education and multilingual 
     ballots. A House-Senate proposal, H.J.Res. 171, would amend 
     the Constitution to make English America's official language.
       English proponents hope that Congress will at long last 
     heed the advice of President Theodore Roosevelt when he wrote 
     in 1917, ``We have but one flag. We must also have but one 
     language, and that language is English.''
                                  ____



                         The Legion's Position

       Delegates to the 1992 American Legion National Convention 
     in Chicago unanimously passed Res. 543, which urges Congress 
     to establish English as the official language of the U.S. 
     government. Last year at the 75th National Convention in 
     Pittsburgh, delegates reaffirmed that position by passing 
     Res. 254, which urges Congress, the U.S. Justice Department 
     and the U.S. Immigration and Nationalization Service to 
     require that all citizenship naturalization ceremonies be 
     conducted in English.

                          ____________________