by V J Webb

Created on: February 17, 2009   Last Updated: March 20, 2009

In all the posturing over language being the basis of a person's cultural heritage, we have lost track of why the United States of America needs a national language. A common language tears down cultural barriers and brings people together as a unit. It is the thread that binds people together as a nation.

Our ancestors showed remarkable foresight when they chose not to make this country bilingual. They realized that we would need the glue of language to hold us together. Of course, if they had opted for a bilingual nation, the other language would be German. Most people do not realize that one in four Americans has German ancestry. This is double other ethnic groups. If anyone doubts how the results of this action would have changed our country, we can look at Canada's struggle to keep French-speaking Quebec from splitting into its own country.

We do not have a defined national or even state policy on how to handle non-English speaking students in our school system. As a result, it is left to each school district to decide which method to use. One popular method is to teach the students in their native tongue until they become proficient in English. A second popular method is to use a translator in the classroom, distracting both the teacher and the students.

The attempt by schools to teach students in their own language has resulted in watering down our educational system. Today's diploma no longer represents the achievement of a known level of proficiency. One school system in the San Francisco Bay Area is attempting to teach in seventy-six different languages. Often students from rural areas of other countries do not know how to read and write their native language. The solution of the school system is to teach them first in their native tongue and then in English. What other country would go to this extreme? It is no wonder that our schools are graduating students without even the most rudimentary skills.

In a San Francisco school district, they allow students to take classes in their native language until they can pass the English proficiency test. If they do not want to leave the perceived safety of these classes, they do not become proficient in English. This is a no win situation. We are forced to pay for the dual education and the student graduates without learning the language he needs to succeed in this country.

This situation is also affecting the English-speaking student. Teaching is often slowed so that students deficient in English can understand

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