The question of whether or not English should be an official language has been a controversial topic since America was founded. There are many different opinions on this topic. There are the extremists who feel strongly in favor of it. Then there are the middle-ground people who feel that there should be bilingual states such as those neighboring Mexico and Canada. The ACLU, who is not in charge of the decision but very influential in the outcome, has chosen not to support English as the official language because “from it’s inception, the United States has been a multilingual nation.” There were as many as twenty different languages that could be heard around the time our founding fathers lived in America. Surprisingly there are 329 languages in the United States that can be heard today.
The National Education Association (NEA) reports that English as the only language deprives “those in need of education, social services, and employment, and it must be challenged.” It does this by making these services not accessible to people of different languages. The NEA also feels that one should preserve their culture by knowing and using their native tongue. In many countries such as Switzerland the citizens learn three languages: German, Italian, and French. They learn these languages when they are in grade school so that they are able to communicate with people around their country. Both education and accommodation are very costly, but personally I feel that education would be a much wiser investment for our country than many it currently makes in prisons and military pursuits. From 1980 to 1990, Canada’s dual language requirement cost a minimum of $6.7 billion. Canada has a population one-t...