Thank goodness U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten showed
some common sense when he ruled last week that a Wichita, Kan.,
Catholic school policy requiring students to speak only English
did not break any civil rights laws. Three Hispanic families had
tried to end this practice at St. Anne's Catholic School on the
grounds that Spanish-only students were harassed and ostracized
by other students. I remember a time when Hispanic parents
insisted that their children speak English. What's happened?
Multilingualism has increased illiteracy and balkanized
communities, but that hasn't stopped proponents from trying to
make it mandatory. What part of "this doesn't work"
don't they understand?
I will be forever grateful that I was given the opportunity to
attend Catholic schools in the 1950s, when they were still
tuition-free. Every time I look at my eighth-grade graduation
picture, I see a sea of Hispanics who went on to high school
speaking English.
Unfortunately, children growing up in poverty in the inner cities
today are not being offered vouchers to obtain that same level of
education. Instead, more and more charter schools that follow the
parochial schools' strict protocols are being established at
great cost to the taxpayers, while rising costs force Catholic
schools to close.
I contacted the secretary of education for the Archdiocese of New
York, Dr. Catherine Hickey, to ask about a bilingualism policy in
the city. "We do not have a written bilingualism policy in
our schools. We operate on a per-needs basis with individual
schools," she said. "We do offer" English as a
second language, "but we are not federally funded. If we
were, then legally we would be bound to have a bilingual
policy."
Dr. Hickey is a former public school teacher who taught at P.S.
72 in Spanish Harlem during a time when there was a great influx
of Puerto Ricans into New York City. Like me, she recalls
Hispanic parents wanting their children to become fluent in
English. Dr. Hickey also taught adult literacy classes in the
Bronx. These adults were American-born and products of a public
school education that had left them illiterate and with poor
language skills. She told them: "If you want to stay on the
streets, then keep talking that way. But if you want a job, you
must learn to speak the king's English."
Those Wichita Hispanics are very misguided if they cannot see
that the best way for their children to become part of mainstream
society is to speak proper English. As New Yorkers of Puerto
Rican heritage, we never had to worry about our citizenship
status, as do Hispanics from Central and South America, but
immigrants from other countries never had the patronizing
language accommodations for Spanish speakers, and the big
question is, why is that? Why aren't Hispanics up in arms at the
insult behind a bilingual policy?
I attended Cathedral High School for Girls in Manhattan and many
of my classmates were first-generation Americans from several
different countries. Our common ground was the English language
we spoke.
Many academics who promote multiculturalism seem to be
antipathetic to our own American culture, which has been
responsible for making us the most powerful nation on earth. It
is a culture that embraces all humanity under the banner of
freedom and our common language. I nearly choked when I heard
Senator Obama say, "Instead of worrying about whether
immigrants can learn to speak English, they'll learn. You need to
make sure your child speaks Spanish. You need to make sure your
child becomes bilingual." He then went on to say that he's
embarrassed that Europeans come here speaking English and most
Americans speak only one language.
Mr. Obama, other countries teach English in their schools just as
elected languages are taught in our schools. I took French in
high school and German in college and when I traveled abroad, I
spoke that country's language. Immigrants will succeed when they
adopt the language and culture of their adopted country, not the
other way around. I'm beginning to like the idea of English
becoming the official language of America just to drive
multiculturalism into the ground.
Mayor Bloomberg signed an executive order that all agencies will
be able to conduct business in several different languages so
that non-English-speaking residents can take advantage of
municipal services. In other words, taxpayers will pay for
translating services that family members used to provide for
free.
All I can say is, "Ay Caramba."