Language Myths

[Unknown]

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/971124/24hist.htm
`A babel of tongues'

Debates over bilingual education are almost as old as the republic

BY JONATHAN ZIMMERMAN

To provide context on current subjects, U.S. News will periodically
examine how a controversial issue has played out over the course of
history.

During the 19th century, American schoolchildren studied in a wide
variety of languages. School districts provided instruction in Polish,
Italian, Dutch, or any other language that parents, many of them
recent immigrants, demanded. At the time, German was the nation's most
common second language, and some Midwestern districts even set up
special "dual language" schools, where students were taught in English
for half a day and in German for the other half.

This open policy on foreign-language instruction began to change
around the turn of the century, as waves of new immigrants from
southern and eastern Europe provoked fears of what Iowa Gov. William
L. Harding called a "babel of tongues." Between 1897 and 1915, 13
states passed laws requiring English instruction in basic subjects
such as math, science, and geography.

During World War I, anti-German sentiment increased calls among
politicians and educators for "100 percent Americanism." By the end of
the war, 37 states had imposed some type of restriction upon
foreign-language instruction, with many placing explicit prohibitions
on German, a language that "disseminates the ideals of autocracy,
brutality, and hatred," in the words of one California school
official. Not content simply to outlaw the evil tongue, a few school
districts held ceremonies to burn their German textbooks.

Immigrant ambivalence. In the years after the war, most of the
language bans were repealed or struck down by the courts. Public
schools became free once more to offer a wide range of
foreign-language classes, ranging from Hebrew and Hungarian to Polish
and Portuguese. Increasingly, however, children took only French or
Latin--or, most commonly, no foreign language at all. By 1949, in
fact, only one fifth of American high school students were enrolled in
any non-English language class, down from almost one half in 1928. In
particular, immigrant parents seemed ambivalent about their children
taking courses in their mother tongues. "Italian parents appear
apathetic toward their mother country," wrote one Italian activist in
Chicago, noting the shrinking enrollments in that language. "And what
is worse, they sometimes deny their nationality." Another Chicagoan
concluded that his fellow Czech immigrants were "ashamed" of their
ethnicity when they declined to study their ancestral language. "A
Czech child belongs in a Czech class," he declared. Parents wanted
their children to learn English as a vehicle of social mobility in
America. Families continued to speak their mother tongues at home, but
parents contended, in the words of one 1934 Italian activist, that
they lacked "practical value" in school.

In the 1950s, because of increased immigration from Mexico and other
Latin American countries, Spanish effectively became America's second
language. But Spanish instruction lagged in the classroom, owing to
local regulations. Although no state barred Spanish instruction,
hundreds of individual school districts did. In some parts of the
Southwest, children were prohibited from speaking Spanish, even on
school playgrounds.

All this changed in the 1960s and 1970s. Spurred by the civil rights
movement, Congress and then the Supreme Court directed schools to
create special programs to assist non-English-speaking students. But
there were two new twists to the policy. Some of the bilingual
programs elected to teach Latino children all school subjects in
Spanish, a policy with virtually no precedent in American history.
More important, some children did not select these programs at all but
were shunted into them by virtue of their test scores or the sound of
their last names.

Ironically, some of the same school systems that had once required
"English only" now required students to learn in a foreign language.
Last year, 70 Latino families staged a two-week boycott of a Los
Angeles school to demand that their children be released from
bilingual classes. Like earlier immigrants, they saw English
instruction as the best ticket to economic success. Most of all, they
wanted to choose which language their children would learn, and when,
and how.

Jonathan Zimmerman teaches history at New York University.

(c) Copyright U.S. News & World Report, Inc. All rights reserved.

http://www.serve.com/shea/germusa/germusa.htm

GERMAN IN AMERICA

This matter is covered in some detail in Karl J. R. Arndt,
"Introduction: German as the official language of the United States of
America?" in "Die deutschsprachige Presse der Amerikas / The German
Language Press of the Americas," 3 (Muenchen: K. G. Saur, 1980),
19-42.

There was never an attempt to make German the official language of the
United States, although (1) there was a failed attempt in Congress in
1794, based on a petition of German residents of Augusta Co.,
Virginia, to have "a certain proportion" of the laws of the United
States printed in German as well as English, and (2) beginning in 1828
["Deutsche Sprache in Nordamerika", "Das Ausland" (Stuttgart: Cotta),
1 February 1828, 126-127, and 2 February 1828, 130-131], reports were
circulated in the German, English, and American press of an attempt to
make German an official language, (alongside English,) of
Pennsylvania, an attempt that was supposedly defeated by only one vote
(Arndt, however, was unable to find any bill or resolution proposing
to make German the or an official language of the state of
Pennsylvania).

It is also known as the Muehlenberg legend. In the online version of
"The German-Americans: An Ethnic Experience" by Willi Paul Adams,
it reads as follows:

At the root of the so-called Muehlenberg legend lies rather a
disappointment that German was not able to hold its gound as a
language of daily usage even in Pennsylvania, except within small
Mennonite, Amish and other sectarian communities. During both the War
of Independence and the War of 1812, at times when anti-German
feelings were running high, Americans of German descent comprised less
that 9% of the total population of the United States. And even in
Pennsylvania, where the Germans had settled most densely, they
amounted to only a third of the entire population. Colonial speakers
of English fought only for their political inde- pendence. They had
not stomach for an anti-english language and cultural revolution.

When German-language farmers in Augusta County, Virginia petitioned
the U.S. House of Representatives in 1794 for a German translation of
the booklet containing the laws and other government
regulations--copies of which had been distributed free in the English
language--officials simply ignored them. Even the bilingual Speaker of
the House of Representatives, Frederick Augustus Conrad Muehlenberg,
refused to support their modest request, arguing that the faster the
Germans became American, the better. No doubt, disappointment with his
negative, though realistc, posture contributed a generation later to
the birth of this legend. (p.25/26)
Eberhard and Ruth Reichmann
_________________________________________________________________

Regarding German in the U.S.: Karl J.R. Arndt wrote the definitive
article on this, which can be found in his THE GERMAN LANGUAGE PRESS
OF THE AMERICAS, vol. 3 (1980).

In 1794, the Virginia Germans petitioned Congress to print laws in
German, but this was sent to a committee where it died - this was done
a second time with the same result. The speaker of the House, F.A.C.
Muehlenberg, was afraid to support the measure for political reasons -
at that time nativism ran quite high due to the anti-immigrant
sentiment resulting from the horrors emanating from the French
Revolution. Muehlenberg, concerned about his own position as Speaker
of the House, remained neutral on the petition, which, hence, died in
the committee. It never came to the full House for a vote.

In 1828, a motion was submitted in the Pennsylvania State Legislature
to make German co-equal with English - this failed by one vote. This
vote is often confused with the 1790s petition, as one which was up
for a national vote.

Although these petitions and motions were not passed, it should be
noted that the Federal and state governments beginning during the
American Revolution and to this day print official documents in
German, as well as in other languages. This began with the Articles of
Confederation during the Revolution. Also, the printing of
German-language broadsides was also adopted during the Revolution.
German-language printing is still being done by the Federal Government
for distribution at national parks, monuments, and institutions, such
as the Library of Congress. Various states issue German documents, for
example, the state of Illinois publishes a drivers manual in German.
At the city level, numerous cities published in German, for example,
the city of Cincinnati.

Hence, German from the beginning of the country has been a language
that has been sanctioned and approved for the printing and publication
of documents. However, Congress and no state has ever voted and passed
a petition to make German "the" national language. Even the 1820s
Pennsylvania motion was to make German "co-equal" with English.
German-American never advocated it be "the" national language - at the
most, it was desired to make it "co-equal" with English. That failing,
they opted for obtaining documents printed in German. They also in the
19th century shifted their focus to the establishment of bi-lingual
public school programs, which lasted down to WWI, when German was
declared illegal in 26 states of the Union.

DON H. TOLZMANN
University of Cincinnati
_________________________________________________________________

Karl Arndt gives a full report, completely documented, in "Monatshefte
fuer den deutschen Unterricht", v. 68 (1976), pp. 129-150. He
describes various movements in the early states towards an official
use of German, which all came to naught. The old story that, except
for one vote, German would have become the official language of the
U.S., apparently comes from the fact that except for one vote, German
would have become an official language (beside English) in
Pennsylvania.

I might add that I understand that the laws of Texas were printed, by
authorization of the state government, in German and Spanish (besides
English) in the mid-1800s. I have seen references to the specific law
concerned, but have not had time to pursue it. There are many other
facets to the 'official use of German' in the United States. For
example, in the large Missouri Synod (originally die Deutsche
Evangelisch-Lutherische Synode von Missouri, Ohio, und anderen
Staaten), German was the official language until the First World War,
when English was admitted as an alternate. Official records in many
churches exist solely in German until well after World War II. German
birth-and-baptismal records are still frequently accepted in Texas as
proof of birth; as a matter of fact, the state of Texas did not start
keeping birth records until something like 1890. Perfectly legal
marriages were performed in German thru and after WW2 and the
certificates were made in German, etc. Grave inscriptions and
cornerstones also stand as vivid testimony of a sort of official use
of German.

Joseph Wilson, Prof. of German
Dept. of German & Slavic, Rice University

I would also consult a site entitled "The Influence of German Language
and Culture on Colonial American English During the Eighteenth
Century", which features a bibliography of scholarly reference works.

http://w3.arizona.edu/~mss/nspubs.html

"Bilingual Education-Necessity or Waste?"
by Oscar Serrano

The question of whether bilingual education should be provided for
those students who do not speak English has become a major issue
within the last few decades. Is it beneficial for a non-native English
speaker to have assistance while he is trying to learn English in
addition to the other subjects? Or should the student be left alone
and let time take care or it? Providing money for the schools for
bilingual education means raising our taxes. Bilingual education costs
the American people approximately 8 billion dollars every year and in
a 1992 report by a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group for bilingual
alternatives, it showed no significant difference in achievement
between students immersed in English and those who received
instruction in both English and their native languages (Hancock/Katel
89). These statistics make the public wonder whether bilingual
education is really necessary or whether it is just a waste of
taxpayers¡ money. By analysing two different articles on the issue,
the reader can gain a better understanding of the matter and see how
other educated people view bilingual education, either as a waste of
money or as a positive step to help a student in his studies.

Peter S. Temes, a Harvard professor, wrote the article Bilingual
Schools Can Work for The New York Times, in the March 18, 1995 issue.
He stresses the importance of bilingual education just as long as the
right equipment and instructors are provided.

Temes¡ strategy at the beginning of his article is to give the
opposition's point of view. Finally after years and years of trying to
put an end to bilingual education, the New York City public schools
have acknowledged the fact that bilingual education just doesn¡t work
and will most likely be rid of. This statement is supported by a
report from the New York City Board of Education that was released in
the fall of 1994. The report states that the students in the bilingual
education program did not do as well as it was expected compared to
students in English-only classes, and bilingual education costs the
city "more than 300 millions dollars each year" (Temes 15). In using
this example, Temes catches the reader¡s attention and encourages him
to keep on reading to see why so much money is put into the failing
program. The reader is left to wonder why Temes believes that
bilingual schools can work, as it is stated in his title, when the
schools have proof that it wastes money. By using this example, Temes
acknowledges the opposition and what he will be trying to go up
against. This proves to be a very effective introduction because the
reader is given the information from the opposition and is now waiting
to see if and how Temes will come back and disprove them. By nodding
the opposition in his introduction, Temes appears reasonable and
gracious which also makes him look credible to the reader by
acknowledging his adversary.

As he goes on with his article, Temes begins to build a foundation for
his side of the debate. He states that bilingual education might not
have worked because it is supposedly "supported only by ethnic blocs
who benefit from the demand it creates for Spanish-speaking teachers
and education workers" (Temes 15). He comes back by saying that the
statement is nothing but a lie and reinforces his comment with several
examples. Here the reader is provided with so many facts that it is
hard not to see what Temes is trying to get across. He refers to
bilingual education as a "staple in American schools since the 16th
century," meaning that it is through bilingual education that the
people of this country have come together and become a single union
(Temes 15). In doing so, he is appealing to all patriotic Americans
who, like him, are proud of how this country formed and don¡t want to
see it change. The idea he has in mind is to show how bilingual
education, a topic many people believe is a fairly new issue in
today's world, is really the old traditional way of building bridges
between cultures. Almost every immigrant, including Europeans, had to
learn to speak English at one point in their lives. By using this
strategy, Temes gives background on bilingual education and the way
that almost every culture has used it. His patriotism allows him to
gain the reader by using pathos and appealing to their pride or
emotional side.

He follows this by making the reader imagine the time when the
multilingual Roman Catholic missionaries sought to evangelize Spanish
speakers in what is now Western America. He also recalls the later
decades when Puritans built schools for the Native Americans in
Massachusetts and Rhode Island and later in the 19th century when
German and Scandinavian pioneers in Illinois and Wisconsin built
public schools with the mission of keeping their native languages
alive. Through the use of ethos, Temes shows his familiarity with his
subject and allows the reader to see that almost everybody has some
connection with this issue. He encourages the reader to keep on
reading by indirectly including him in the article and that makes him
feel as though he takes part in the reading and is not just a
bystander.

In the next few paragraphs, Temes restates his thesis statement by
making it clear that good bilingual education helps non-native English
speakers learn English faster than having them learn in English-only
atmospheres. He now uses a strong weapon in his argument when he
places the reader in a Hungarian school classroom where no help is
available to him. He asks the reader how he is supposed to absorb
anything the teacher is saying when he doesn¡t even know how to ask
for permission to go to the bathroom. The reader is left stranded as
he is placed in that situation because no help is available to him. As
a result, the reader begins to see Temes point and how important it is
for students to have someone in the classroom there to help them.
Here, Temes relies on pathos to help him along the way to try and get
his reader into seeing his view. By targeting the emotional side of
the reader through the narration of the story, he makes the reader
feel just like a non-English speaking student unable to communicate
with anybody in the class. When placed in that situation, the reader
is able to see Temes¡ point of view and understand him more
completely. At this point in the reading, the reader is easily
distracted from the facts and the figures against bilingual education,
which seem minimal, when compared to the aspect of having to learn a
foreign language quickly in order to communicate with others. Temes
presents the issue in a way that the reader is now readily persuaded
to learn about the subject.

Temes believes there are two main reasons why bilingual education
failed for New York. One of the problems he believes, is that the
system hires the right amount of teachers but not with the right
qualifications. Temes¡ knowledge of the subject is shown when he
explains through his personal experience that while in college, he
came across several Spanish teachers that were hired without
legitimate college degrees or any real preparation for teaching. As he
explains it, "Bilingual education is a good idea, but certainly if the
standards for hiring bilingual teachers are unreasonably low, these
programs can¡t work" (Temes 15). In this statement, Temes' reader is
encouraged to trust the author's insights because they are based on
his personal experience.

In his final statement, Temes plays a psychological game with the
reader through sarcasm. He agrees with his opposition and says that
bilingual education should be discarded because it is not worth the
money. If the system they have in New York with its "mediocre
resources" and "half- hearted support" is not working than maybe it¡s
true that an English-only education is far better for the children.
Through sarcasm, Temes concludes that bilingual education just will
not work if it¡s not funded and strongly supported by the community.
In doing so, he ridicules the opposition by making them seem inept and
spiritless toward the issue.

A similar view on bilingual education can be taken from LynNell
Hancock, who along with Peter Katel, composed an article published in
the October 1995 issue of Newsweek. The Bilingual Bog is written in a
lively and concise tone since the targeted audience of the magazine is
the general public. Their purpose in writing this article is to
examine the different sides of the issue.

Hancock and Katel take a unique approach in the introduction to their
article. They relate the story of Ariel Pena, a Dominican boy who can
speak "Brooklyn English like any kid who ever smacked a two-sewer
homer in a game of stickball," but because of a low score on a reading
test when he was nine, he spent his entire middle school in the same
bilingual class, "reading through the same textbooks, conjugating the
same simple verbs dictated by a teacher who spoke only garbled
Spanglish" (Hancock/Katel 89). This works out to be an effective
strategy because it shows how unfair the system is. You have a
non-native English speaker who can communicate with the rest of native
English speaking students when they are playing, yet he has to suffer
through the same class and teacher for his elementary schooling just
because of a low score on an test. To the reader, it feels like they
are depriving him of success. Ariel was literally being held back in
the class he was assigned and was not able to transfer out. That is
the problem Hancock and Katel target in this article. Through the use
of narrative, their pathos are established in their introduction, they
make it clear that too many children are spending too long in
bilingual classes and they are learning nothing but the same things
over and over. As a result, reader is easily moved at the thought of
having the child suffer, not being able to move on to bigger and
better things.

Hancock and Katel claim that, "Students learn English faster in
quality bilingual classes than they do in English-only settings"
(Hancock/Katel 89). To the reader, they seem knowledgeable of their
subject because they provide the results of a recent study performed
at George Mason University composed of 42,000 students which states
that as long as the student is furnished with the adequate equipment
and teachers, he will learn English faster in a bilingual setting than
if he was in a regular English-only classroom. Here, a combination of
logos and ethos is used because they provide the reader with the study
and statistics which makes them more credible and it turn, strengthens
their argument.

The article ends with their use of pathos through the testimony of a
person who had gone through bilingual education in several schools
until she found the right program. A picture of pity is painted in the
reader¡s mind when Hancock and Katel describe her "bouncing around
from one bilingual program where she learned little English to another
where students made fun of her grammar mistakes, until Rosy found a
high school that knows how to reach immigrant children" (Hancock/Katel
89). This school which makes a good example of an outstanding
bilingual program makes students work together in groups where the
teachers are used only to "facilitate rather than lecture"
(Hancock/Katel 89). The program¡s effectiveness is supported right
away as it is stated that 90 percent of the students graduate and go
on to college. Through the narration of this story, the reader is able
to see that with the right method for teaching and the adequate
teachers, success can be reached. Hancock and Katel use a combination
of pathos, ethos, and logos in their conclusion because through the
narration and the statistics, the reader is able to see how the
student succeeded with the right program which in turn fortifies
Hancock and Katel¡s argument.

Both of the articles successfully convey their ideas to their intended
audience. Their topic is similar, however each author takes a
different approach in attracting their audience. Temes relies heavily
on ethos to establish his credibility and pathos to appeal to his
audience¡s emotional side. However, he completely ignores logos which
make his argument weak and fluctuant. Temes realizes that most
persuasive articles rely heavily on logos to make their point clear
and to support it. He, however, tries to appear different by taking a
distinct approach when writing his article. By not utilising logos in
the structure of his paper, he appears different. As a result, his
prose doesn¡t sound ordinary and boring by filling the reader with
facts and statistics.

On the other hand, Hancock and Katel depend strongly on logos which
allow them to gain their audience through facts and figures and pathos
to gain their emotional side as well. Hancock and Katel also use ethos
to establish their credibility. Over all, both articles do a
magnificent job in getting their ideas across to their intended
audience, Temes¡ approach in writing his article should be noted for
its innovative style, yet Hancock and Katel¡s article proves to be
more convincing because they combine logos, ethos, and pathos in their
argument, therefore turning it into a well-rounded article.
_________________________________________________________________

Works Cited

Hancock, LynNell, and Peter Katel. "The Bilingual Bog". Newsweek 23
Oct. 1995: P. 89
Temes, Peter S. " Bilingual Schools Can Work". The New York Times 18
Mar. 1995: P. 15

[Unknown]

It doesn't make either side right or wrong, but we should note
how the events of the 1870s influenced many of the current turmoils in
USA Orthodoxy. After the British treachery at Crimea, Russia turned
inward to Panslavism, Nihilism and worse. The Brits tried to induce
Greeks to accompany them into Egypt (appealing to their wish to
"re-Hellenise" it) to keep their minds off Crimea. The Russians sided
with the Bulgarians (Exarchate, Treaty of San Stefano, leading to the
current "Macedonia" crisis) and Antiochians against the
Greeks-Serbs-Romanaians. But the Middle Eastern Orthodox were never
originally "Arab" (many of them actually did speak Greek or at best,
Aramaic - and yet, the original New Testament was in Greek - written
by the Evangelists in Greek, not translated into Greek from Aramaic -
at least not translated by anyone other than those Evangelists
themselves) - the Arabs were Bedouin muslim invaders (Muhammad himself
was a hijacker of caravans and used Ramadan to gain exclusivity to
hijackings during that month), so the idea promoted by the Antiochians
(and Russians) that Islam became common because the Greeks forced
Arabs to listen to liturgy in Greek is unfounded. In fact, that Islam
considers Iskandar (Alexander the Great) to be a prophet, totally
discredits this.

- = -
Vasos-Peter John Panagiotopoulos II, Columbia'81+, Bioengineer-Financier, NYC
BachMozart ReaganQuayle EvrytanoKastorian http://WWW.Dorsai.Org/~vjp2
vjp2@{MCIMail.Com|CompuServe.Com|Dorsai.Org}
---{Nothing herein constitutes advice. Everything fully disclaimed.}---