Saturday, March 31, 2007

If it's slithery and repulsive, it's probably a …

… Newt.

This just in:

From: JoshuaE
Subject: Topic for your blog

What do you think of Gingrich's recent comment:

"We should replace bilingual education with immersion in English so people learn the common language of the country and they learn the language of prosperity, not the language of living in a ghetto," Gingrich said to cheers from the crowd of more than 100.

[source]

Personally, I find the most telling "word" in this paragraph is "100".

How am I supposed to write a thoughtful essay examining the pros and cons of English as official language after that last line?

1 comment:

bjkeefe said...

Here's a sketch of my position on the idea of English as a second language.

I generally think it would be a good thing if we all could speak in a common language. Also, as a visitor to other countries, I do my pathetic best to communicate in the native tongue.

But ultimately, I'm against such a thing being mandated by law. Learning another language as an adult is really hard. I'm sure there wouldn't be any boost in funding for ESL (EOL?) classes. Making English the Official Language at this point would be nothing more than another way to discriminate against certain groups, and so it's no surprise that most advocates tend to come from the party, and churches, of intolerance.

Besides, there is already plenty of incentive to learn to speak English, both here and around the world. Anyone knows that it's much easier to get ahead, financially and socially, if one is conversant in the local language. (cf: Arab speakers in the US armed forces, lack thereof.)

Finally, let's not forget that we have a president who regularly displays an inability to use what would be the official language.

Like we really need another reason to impeach.

ShareThis