Thank you for speaking English
You can purchase this sign at Amazon.
English as the official language of the United States seems to me to be the most important thing that no one is talking about. Just as nothing unifies a country like a common language, so nothing keeps us apart like a language barrier.
Yes, I am aware that on March 1, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order designating English as the official language. Nothing much has changed, and until Congress passes such a law, nothing will.
The problems caused by multiple languages are legion.
There are truck drivers who can’t read road signs, and the problem of government advertising having to be in two languages. I’ve long contended that our public schools have been severely impacted by too many students that are not fluent in English. Our Congress and a willing president could fix the problem, except that politics stands in the way
AUDIO: Random Samplings of a Logical Mind (TO COME)
There are huge language problems in America, and many smaller ones.
Lately we’ve had a rash of big-rig trucks with drivers that can’t read English, and causing wrecks that often take lives. Wouldn’t it be nice if we had a law that, if you come to the United States to live or to work, you’d need to learn English? Not because the law says so, but because if we took this issue seriously, and the Spanish language signs and ads began to disappear, newcomers would have to assimilate to survive. You’ll note that almost all government notices appear in both languages and that costs more for translations and extra space in a publication.
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The other big problem involves our failing public schools. They weren’t failing in the fifties and sixties when virtually all the students spoke English. The occasional student from Mexico was immersed in English, and learned to speak it. In today’s world, schools pander to non-English-speaking students. In my opinion, that’s the Number One problem with inner city schools that are so bad they face takeovers by the state.
Is there some reason, legally or morally, that we can’t require kids entering our schools to be fluent in English? Certainly not, and the burden ought to be placed on the parents to have their kids ready for school and speaking English. That should be the law.
This is not to denigrate Spanish, but Spanish is the problem.
It’s also not to say that there are no kids in our schools that speak a variety of other languages. However, our failing schools are not packed with kids that speak German, Russian, Chinese, or any foreign language other than Spanish. Virtually all of them learn English – except the Spanish speakers. Meanwhile, left-wing school boards are always coming up with brilliant ideas to make learning much harder – such as dual language programs. Some kids can handle that; I doubt that I could have. Math class was hard enough for me in English.
Our leaky borders and lax immigration policies are also to blame.
The United States is bordered by just two other countries, and very few of our immigration problems are caused by Canada. There’s a lot of French spoken in Canada, but essentially, it’s an English-speaking country and that creates a bond with the United States. Canada is also a first-world country.
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Mexico is a third-world country, infested with drug cartels and human traffickers. You’d think that Mexican schools would lean heavily on English in their language classes, but if they do, it’s not apparent. Even though Mexicans come to the United States by the millions, legally and illegally, it’s common to see families in department stores and other public places speaking Spanish. I imagine some Mexican families in the United States speak English at home so the kids will learn it, but all of them should.
To the parents of Spanish-speaking kids who actually speak English at home – thank you! Thank you for speaking English. Your children will be better off for it, and so will our country.
The composition of our big urban school districts is a sign of what’s going on.
The enrollment of our five big urban school districts in Texas is overwhelmingly Hispanic according to data in the Texas Tribune. Here are the percentages:
- Houston ISD: 60.5%
- Dallas ISD: 71.2%
- Fort Worth ISD: 65%
- San Antonio ISD: 89.6%
- Austin ISD: 53%
Houston and Fort Worth schools have been taken over by the state. Austin is likely next for a state takeover. The issue causing this is almost certainly language.
Unfortunately, Spanish is enabled in the United States in a way that no other foreign language is.
We have Spanish-language television stations that broadcast networks like Telemundo and Univision. Chain stores, seeing what’s happening and wanting the Spanish-speaking business, run all their signage in dual language. Most of the high end of the AM radio band is consumed by Spanish-language radio stations. The FM band is loaded up with them as well. Even personal injury lawyers trolling for clients always make it a point to advertise that they speak Spanish.
If you’re a primary speaker of German, or French, or Russian, or Farsi, you can’t make it in the United States without learning English. If you’re a Spanish speaker, you can. In fact, you will be coddled.
I suspect our school boards and superintendents are well aware of this.
If they’re not completely incompetent, they’ve studied school districts like Oceanside, California, that briefly went to English immersion and saw test scores shoot up. (California quickly went back to multiple-language schools because we can’t have English immersion, now can we?) English immersion is not politically correct, and the Spanish-speaking vote is very important. Instead of pushing our country’s language, we post signs that say “Vote Aqui.”
President Trump is one of a very few politicians in our country that are willing to actually do something. He issued an Executive Order, but it’s ignored. So, Americans still have to face people on our highway that can’t understand road signs, and watch our schools circling the drain. Like most other issues, English as the official language is a right-left issue with conservatives in support and progressives against it.
This makes no sense. This ought to be a 90-10 issue. The number of huge problems we could solve by simply demanding English in the United States is staggering. Politicians know it, but they will simply tell you that no such bill could pass Congress. Meanwhile, the more people that “vote aqui,” the bigger this problem gets.
The way I see it, the only way to solve it once and for all is to abandon English altogether and make Spanish our official language. I’ll bet Congress could get behind that.
Lynn Woolley is a Texas-based author, broadcaster, and songwriter. Follow his podcast at https://www.PlanetLogic.us. Check out his author’s page at https://www.Amazon.com/author/lynnwoolley.
Order books direct from Lynn at https://PlanetLogicPress.Square.Site. Email Lynn at lwoolley9189@gmail.com.
This book in mostly in English. Sometimes, there are words used with as many as three and even four syllables.
