- Mar 14, 2023
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I have no problem with declaring English the official language of higher
education. This would be efficient.
BUT, new immigrants often do not have language skills in English.
They should have support.
ALSO, America is in a longstanding language and math skills slide.
This brings up the question of how the president is going to try to
teach "English speaking" Americans, how to speak English.
And, whose "English" is going to be the standard???
Southern, red-necked stock car racing English?
Black English?
British English.
Universal English. (There is such a thing.)
Bahston English?
NorthEast English?
Eastern Indian tonal English???
There were great advantages during the Middle Ages, that in Europe, the
artificial language Latin was used in the academy.
But my guess is that this declaration will be so fudgy, that each little
geographical group of "English speakers" will be able to claim that what
THEY speak, is "English". Right now, a lot of American citizens who claim that
they speak English, are functionally illiterate. They don't speak English.
And, I doubt that the Education Department, and the states, will agree on an
all-American standard of English. One of the services that the current Department
of Education did, was compare statistics among the states, as to how the different
states were performing in their educational efforts.
My guess is that this declaration, is a fig leaf for the various president's supporters,
so that each of them may exclude people who "don't speak like us" from the public
schools in that state. And THAT is different, than declaring that English will be the
standard language in America.
My guess, is that teaching Universal English, at a high level, is NOT what this
presidential declaration is all about.
