Definition and Examples of the English-only Movement

The English-only movement is a political movement that seeks to establish English as the sole official language of the United States or of any particular city or state within the U.S. The expression English-only is primarily used by opponents of the movement. Advocates prefer other terms, such as Official-English Movement. U.S.ENGLISH, Inc. states that it is the nations oldest, largest citizens action group dedicated to preserving the unifying role of the English language in the United States. Founded in 1983 by the late Senator S.I. Hayakawa, an immigrant himself, U.S. English now has 1.8 million members nationwide.​ Commentary President Theodore Roosevelt We have room for but one language in this country, and that is the English language, for we intend to see that the crucible turns our people out as Americans, of American nationality, and not as dwellers in a polyglot boarding house. –Works, 1926 Peter Elbow Its touching when speakers of English argue for purity in the language since English is probably the most impure bastardized language theres ever been. Its slept with every language it ever encountered, even casually. The strength of English comes from how many babies its had with how many partners. –Vernacular Eloquence: What Speech Can Bring to Writing, 2012 Geoffrey Nunberg Given the minor role that language has played in our historical self-conception, it isnt surprising that the current English-only movement began in the political margins, the brainchild of slightly flaky figures like Senator S.I. Hayakawa and John Tanton, a Michigan ophthalmologist who co-founded the U.S. English organization as an outgrowth of his involvement in zero population growth and immigration restriction. (The term English-only was originally introduced by supporters of a 1984 California initiative opposing bilingual ballots, a stalking horse for other official-language measures. Leaders of the movement have since rejected the label, pointing out that they have no objection to the use of foreign languages in the home. But the phrase is a fair characterization of the goals of the movement so far as public life is concerned.)... Considered strictly in the light of the actualities, then, English-only is an irrelevant provocation. It is a bad cure for an imaginary disease, and moreover, one that encourages an unseemly hypochondria about the health of the dominant language and culture. But it is probably a mistake to try to engage the issue primarily at this level, as opponents of these measures have tried to do with little success. Despite the insistence of English-only advocates that they have launched their campaign for the immigrants own good, its hard to avoid the conclusion that the needs of non-English speakers are a pretext, not a rationale, for the movement. At every stage, the success of the movement has depended on its capacity to provoke widespread indignation over allegations that government bilingual programs are promoting a dangerous drift toward a multilingual society. –Speaking of America: Why English-Only Is a Bad Idea. The Workings of Language: From Prescriptions to Perspectives, ed. b y Rebecca S. Wheeler. Greenwood, 1999 Paul Allatson Many commentators regard English-Only as a symptom of a nativist backlash against immigration from Mexico and other Spanish-speaking countries, the ostensible focus on language by proponents often masking deeper fears about the nation under threat from Spanish-speaking peoples (Crawford 1992). At a federal level, English is not the official language of the USA, and any attempt to give English that function would require a Constitutional amendment. However, this is not the case at city, county, and state level across the country, and much of the recent legislative success to enshrine English as the official state, county, or city language is attributable to English-Only. –Key Terms in Latino/a Cultural And Literary Studies, 2007 James Crawford [F]actual support has generally proved unnecessary for English-only proponents to advance their cause. The facts are that, except in isolated locales, immigrants to the United States have typically lost their native languages by the third generation. Historically they have shown an almost gravitational attraction toward English, and there are no signs that this proclivity has changed. To the contrary, recent demographic data analyzed by Veltman (1983, 1988) indicate that rates of anglicization—shift to English as the usual language—are steadily increasing. They now approach or surpass a two-generation pattern among all immigrant groups, including Spanish-speakers, who are most often stigmatized as resistant to English. –At War with Diversity: US Language Policy in an Age of Anxiety, 2000 Kevin Drum I may not have any big objections to making English our official language, but why bother? Far from being unique, Hispanics are just like every other wave of immigrants in American history: they start off speaking Spanish, but the second and third generations end up speaking English. And they do it for obvious reasons: they live among English speakers, they watch English-language television, and its hellishly inconvenient not to speak it. All we have to do is sit back and do nothing, and Hispanic immigrants will eventually all become English speakers. –The Best Way to Promote the English Language Is to Do Nothing, 2016 Opponents Anita K. Barry In 1988, the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) of the NCTE passed a National Language Policy (Smitherman, 116) that lists as the goals of CCCC: 1. to provide resources to enable native and non-native speakers to achieve oral and literate competence in English, the language of wider communication;2. to support programs that assert the legitimacy of native languages and dialects and ensure that proficiency in ones mother tongue will not be lost; and3. to foster the teaching of languages other than English so that native speakers of English can rediscover the language of their heritage or learn a second language. Some opponents of English-only, including the National Council of Teachers of English and the National Education Association, united in 1987 into a coalition called English Plus, which supports the concept of bilingualism for everyone... –Linguistic Perspectives on Language and Education, 2002 Henry Fountain Fewer than half of the nations in the world have an official language--and sometimes they have more than one. The interesting thing, though, said James Crawford, a writer on language policy, is that a large percentage of them are enacted to protect the rights of language minority groups, not to establish a dominant language. In Canada, for example, French is an official language along with English. Such a policy is intended to protect the francophone population, which has remained distinct for hundreds of years. In the United States we dont have that kind of stable bilingualism, Mr. Crawford said. We have a pattern of very rapid assimilation. A more apt comparison might be to Australia, which like the United States has had high levels of immigration. Australia doesnt have an English-only movement, Mr. Crawford said. While English is the official language, Australia also has a policy that encourages immigrants to preserve their language and English-speakers to learn new ones, all to benefit trade and security. They dont use language as a lightning rod for expressing your views on immigration, Mr. Crawford said. Language has not become a major symbolic dividing line. –In Language Bill, the Language Counts, 2006

Major Types Of Major Depressive Disorder - 1112 Words

Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by a pervasive and persistent low mood that is accompanied by low self-esteem and by a loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities. The term depression is used in a number of different ways. It is often used to mean this syndrome but may refer to other mood disorders or simply to a low mood. Major depressive disorder is a disabling condition that adversely affects a person s family, work or school life, sleeping and eating habits, and general health. In the United States, around 3.4% of people with major depression commit suicide, and up to 60% of people who commit suicide had depression or another mood disorder. Suicide is characterized by a few things:†¦show more content†¦It is unclear whether medications affect the risk of suicide. Current and former patients may be stigmatized. The understanding of the nature and causes of depression has evolved over the centuries, though this understanding is incomplete and has left many aspects of depression as the subject of discussion and research. Proposed causes include psychological, psycho-social, hereditary, evolutionary and biological factors. Long-term substance abuse may cause or worsen depressive symptoms. Psychological treatments are based on theories of personality, interpersonal communication, and learning. Most biological theories focus on the monoamine chemicals serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine, which are naturally present in the brain and assist communication between nerve cells. This cluster of symptoms was named, described and classified as one of the mood disorders in the 1980 edition of the American Psychiatric Association s diagnostic manual. Major depression significantly affects a person s family and personal relationships, work or school life, sleeping and eating habits, and general health. Its impact on functioning and well-being has been compared to that of chronic medical conditions such as diabetes. A person having a major depressive episode usually exhibits a very low mood, which pervades all aspects of life, and an inability to experience pleasure in activities that were formerly enjoyed. Depressed people may be

Critique of Lars Eighners Dumpster Diving Essay Example For Students

Critique of Lars Eighners Dumpster Diving Essay Yesterday, I threw out an old jar of peanut butter with only about an inch of it left. It had not expired yet, but we had gotten a new jar, and that one simply tasted better. I wasnt supporting the homeless community, or being wasteful, I was just trying to make room in the cabinet. If I would have kept that inch of peanut butter, it wouldnt have made the worlds population of homeless people try to find work, nor want to get off the streets. Lars Eighner is suggesting that when we throw away things, homeless people can find a way to make use out of whatever it is. Therefore, if we dont want there to be bums on the street, it is inferred that we shouldnt throw anything extra out if we want to change that. To me, that is simply ridiculous. We all know, that if someone is desperate enough, they can make use out of almost anything, and some of those things non-homeless folk cant use anymore. Were not feeding or clothing the homeless intentionally, we cant help if people dig through our trash. So, not throwing away anything extra is not going to turn the vagabonds of the world into a fine, upstanding, or hard-working citizen of America. Obviously, I completely disagree with Eighners purpose in writing Dumpster Diving. I think the whole thing is preposterous. The way he makes a general assumption about how everybodys is wasteful is pure ignorance. It seem as if he is saying that the reason why people are homeless is because we throwing out things. Eighner is trying to tell us that people will remain homeless until we start saving more and wasting less, but thats not how it works. Most people dont choose to be homeless. Some even start out having their own companies, or just simply having jobs and comfortable live. . out and got a job. He stopped relying on the trash of people, and simply started working. People werent throwing out more or less, he just simply applied himself. Who cares what we throw out, its not going to make a difference. All-in-all, Eighner fails at his attempt to get us to stop wasting what we cant use. It is easy to see that its not our faults if people are homeless, because we are not contributing to that. Removing clutter and getting rid of junk does not keep people on the streets! Some people are just down-and-out, and theres nothing we can do to help or hurt that. Eighner needs to look at the man in the mirror and realize that if he didnt get a job because people cut off their garbage, then thats not the case. Even though Eighner disagrees with me, today, tomorrow, and the day after that, I will always throw away that inch of peanut butter.

PLATE TECTONICS PAPER Essays - Plate Tectonics, Subduction

PLATE TECTONICS PAPER In 1912 Alfred Wegener, a meteorologist, revived a theory that the continents of the eastern and western hemispheres were once joined. Wegener, along with his followers showed how the east coast of the Americas align with the westside of the Old World, a coincidence that Leonardo da Vinci commented upon. But no one could come up with a convincing way to push, shove, or drift whole continents for thousands of kilometers. It was thought that the deep granite continental masses must somehow plow right through the bedrock of the seafloors. Calculations of energy required produced forbidding estimates, it seemed impossible despite the evidence at hand. In the past ten years a revelation swept through geology and vindicated Wegener, he didn't imagine the mechanism that caused continental drift. The theory of plate tectonics emerged. The Earth's crust is divided into two types of terrain: Continents, which occupy about 40 percent of the Earth's surface and non-continents, which is generally deep ocean. Continental crust is lighter, thicker, and much older. Some that's been found is more than 3 billion years old. The oldest rock under the open sea is only 150 to 250 million years old and much younger. The seashore and the edge of the continent should not be confused. Much of the continents are submerged in shelves extending hundreds of kilometers offshore to a depth of several hundred meters where the continental slope begins. There's a stiff outer rind below the continent and non- continent which is called the lithosphere and is about 100 kilometers thick. Below that is the plastic, the asthenosphere, the thickness difference between the continents and the non-continents is shown by how deep the continents ride into the lithosphere. They are like icebergs with crust extending 35 to 40 kilometers deep, most of it is granite and granulate rocks. More than 75 percent of the continents lie between sea level and about two kilometers in height, while 75 percent of the seabottom lies at the rather great depth of three to six kilometers below sea level. After World War II it was discovered that sediments became progressively thicker away from the mid-Atlantic ridge. The reason was not clear it could be that the sea floor furthest from the ridge was oldest, or something was causing a faster sedimentation rate away from the ridge and near the continents. The conclusive evidence that the whole lot of it - ocean floors, continents, islands and all - are constantly shifting around like ducks in a pond was assembled in the mid-1960's by a team of Cambridge University geologists. The theory of plate tectonics was rapidly assembled: As fast as sea floor comes out of ocean ridges it has to be consumed somewhere. The stiff sheet of lithosphere that appears in the ridges goes down in subduction zones usually marked by deep trenches in the ocean floor. Often the trenches are near continental margins. The continents move and shift, crash into each other from opposite sides of subduction zones, even split apart when spreading zones open across them, but they never go down into the Earth. A common theory is connected to the observation the as the ocean floor moves away from the spreading zones, it drops to progressively greater depths. The Earth is divided into six major plates and a number of smaller ones. Each has three types of boundaries: spreading zones, subduction zones, and shear zones.