English as a First Language

Arizona has passed a new, tough immigration law. Alabama has a candidate for governor who wants to do all he can to make people speak and work in English. Presumably Alaska and Arkansas will be next in the parade of States in declaring something about the primacy of English in the USA. Alphabetical order is important, you know.

Kidding aside, what we have happening lately is, at least arguably, much ado about nothing which is being made into more of an issue than it needs to be. Those who assert that Americans ought to speak English are right for several reasons, not the least of which is that a common language unifies a people more than any other single point. If we cannot understand one another is very difficult to come together and grow strong. Yet that does not mean that having certain accommodations for the recently arrived is a bad thing either.

We can debate about the precise actions ad infinitum, but there is no reason that we cannot agree on the basic idea. We should want to welcome people willing to come to America and become productive Americans, and part of that is surely to give consideration of what they need to adjust to our language and ways. In the meantime, the new arrivals ought to be working hard to make that adjustment, which surely must mean learning the dominant tongue.

Take the multi-language driver's license exams in Alabama, for example. Why can't they be in someone's native tongue at first, if necessary, with the requirement that after a reasonable period of time they must be mastered in English? After all, not all road signs are simple figures or simple art depicting this or that. We often see construction signs and freeway warning signs in English only. At some point it is only reasonable to expect that any given driver should be able to read them, as there may truly be life or death ramifications involved.

As to whether the Arizona law is bad law or not, or Alabama gubernatorial Tim James rant bad form, let that play out in the political arena. In the meantime, why don't we all consider what it is to be an American, and act the part with as fair and unbiased an outlook as we can muster.