KVNUFTP

I rode the CVTD bus up to  campus about a month ago.  I noticed the sign above the door said “Watch your Head” in English then under it was repeated in Spanish.  I looked around and noticed quite a few different ethnicities other than just English and Spanish.

I’ve “potty danced” in a subway station in Tokyo praying for any English characters to point me to a restroom so I didn’t have to prove myself an “Ugly American” and crap my pants from too much seaweed, Uni and Asahi Super Drys the night before.  I’ve gotten off a boat in Finland and ran to the first business to use their restroom, (again, didn’t time the beer out) only to have a couple of dudes yelling at me when I got out.  Apparently the sign on the door read:  For customers ONLY.  Luckily there was someone  who spoke English in there who clued me in before I got my ass kicked.  I gave them some colored paper out of my pocket and got out with my nose intact.

But this is America.  Everyone is here. The Melting Pot.  I think the sign should look more like this to better represent Americans.

When our European forfathers were drafting the Constitution, numerous different languages were being spoken in the United States including German, Dutch, French, Portuguese, Greek, Arabic, Italian, Spanish, Yiddish, and hundreds of Native American and African based languages.  Some of the framers were concerned with other ethnic groups’ influence even though they were European based.  Benjamin Franklin was concerned with the Germans in Pensylvania and their cultural and linguistic influences.  Jefferson was worried about the French in the Louisiana territories.  Ultimately, the Articles of Confederation were published in German.  Both groups played a vital role, and fought and died for, the birth of our country, but the English language and influence dominates the government.  As the U.S. grew, so does the English language influence over the people who resided there before Europeans arrived in the 1600s.

Language restrictionist policies in the 1850s affected thousands.  Chinese immigrants were attacked, not allowed to vote, kept from getting jobs, owning land, and testifying against whites because of English literacy requirements at the time

“In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the man’s becoming in very fact an American, and nothing but an American…There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag, and this excludes the red flag, which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization, just as much as it excludes any foreign flag of a nation to which we are hostile…We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language…and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.”

Theodore Roosevelt 1907

Meyer v. Nebraska:  In 1923, school teaher John Meyer was convicted under his states law for teaching a ten year old boy a bible story in German.  Under his states ‘English only’ law, foriegn language instruction was only allowed after the completion of the eighth grade. German and Japanese speakers will also suffer through race-fueled tensions in the 1920s and 1940s with World War I and II.  U.S. government maintains a “hands off” attitude towards languages until the 1960s.

The Bilingual Education Act of 1968 acknowlegded the need for funding bilingual education, attempting to help immigrant groups assimilate into their communities.  1974 Supreme Court decision, Lau v. Nichols further clarifies the countries responsibility toward the education of immigrant populations:

§ 8573 of the [California] Education Code provides that no pupil shall receive a diploma of graduation from grade 12 who has not met the standards of proficiency in “English,” as well as other prescribed subjects. Moreover, by § 12101 of the Education Code (Supp. 1973) children between the ages of six and 16 years are (with exceptions not material here) subject to compulsory full-time education. (Lau v. Nichols, 1974)

This is a public school system of California, and § 71 of the California Education Code states that “English shall be the basic language of instruction in all schools.” That section permits a school district to determine “when and under what circumstances instruction may be given bilingually.” (Lau v. Nichols, 1974).

Basic English skills are at the very core of what these public schools teach.  Imposition of a requirement that, before a child can effectively participate in the educational program, he must already have acquired those basic skills is to make a mockery of public education. (Lau v. Nichols, 1974)

So there’s a little bit of my research on it.  In my opinion it should be all or none.  I still think the CVTD should get sued if a Japanese/ Tongan/ Italian kid racks his head on the door.  If taxpayer money is going to be spent on courtesy signs like on the CVTD.  The ‘courtesy’ should be extenended to, and be inclusive of, all that paid taxes that bought them.