Don?t waste time to make English official language

We think Tennessee’s Republican Sens. Bill Frist and Lamar Alexander have the right approach on their Senate Web sites. They make their information available in Spanish. That means everyone they represent, even those who might not read or speak English fluently, can be informed about important issues their elected officials are dealing with.

But both Frist and Alexander are now pushing English as the national language. Both voted for an amendment in the immigration legislation passed by the Senate in May making English the national language.

We accept that English already is the national language in America. It does not need to be spelled out in a federal law. The amendment sends the wrong message to immigrants and opens the door for abuse and discrimination against those who can’t or simply don’t want to learn English.

The amendment Frist and Alexander voted for and are now pushing is, as a practical matter, unenforceable and meaningless. It is blatant pandering to xenophobic conservatives. All this English language fervor is being generated by public outrage over illegal immigrants flooding into the country from Mexico. But making English the official language won’t keep a single Mexican in Mexico.

Finally, if anyone doubts that English is already the official language consider this: A final step for foreign immigrants to become American citizens requires taking a citizenship test given only in English.

It would be far more productive if Frist and Alexander would spend their time looking for ways to help make America’s K-12 students better speakers and writers of their homeland language. It is telling that many foreigners inside and outside of America speak and write better English than many Americans.