Date: Fri, 8 Sep 1995 00:02:57 -0700

From: Anton Sherwood dasher[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]NETCOM.COM

Subject: English-only



English should never become a second language in America. If it were not

so, the founding fathers would have written the constitution in several

other languages. [ . . . ]



Which ones? (They could not have predicted a need for Spanish or Chinese!)



My grandparents came from Italy, and had to learn English if they wanted

to succeed in life. Thus, I feel if someone does not know or want to

learn English...TOUGH! Furthermore, it is disgusting to go down towards

Miami or Southern California and seeing all those Spanish signs.



If you hate to be reminded that there are other peoples in the world,

or that some shops care more about serving their customers efficiently

than about enticing _you_, why not just stay home?



Florida and California were Spanish for centuries. I don't imagine

the then residents of those lands wanted to be ruled in English any

more than you want to learn Spanish. (I've even heard that the treaty

with Mexico made Spanish the official language of California!)



It almost makes me feel as if I were in mexico (yes thats a small 'm').



Lots of place names have become common nouns, but this is the first

time I've seen "mexico" used as such -- what does it mean?



Also, it is a waste of my tax dollars on teaching young immigrants their

native languages rather than the English language. [ . . . ]



Agreed. And it's a waste of my tax dollars to imprison children and

teach them to love Big Brother and hate learning. Separation of school

and state will make a lot of divisive issues fade away.



The breakdown of one source of communication is another aspect

of how this country is falling apart.



More a symptom than a cause. The country-as-institution is no longer

inclusive or attractive.



Anton Sherwood *\\* +1 415 267 0685 *\\* DASher[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]netcom.com

(in San Francisco, where almost everyone still speaks English)