The Official Language Movement
Hispanics in the US share the heritage of the Spanish language. They do not always
speak the language and some do not know it at all. The level of Spanish use relates to their origin
and length of time in the US and if they born here, per our text. As of 2002, Mexican Americans
were 51% Spanish dominant 26% bilingual. US Puerto Ricans in the US were 21% Spanish
dominant. and 40% bilingual. Salvadorans, Dominicans, Colombians, and other Central and
South Americans tend to be more Spanish dominant. Nationally, about 70% of Latino children
report speaking Spanish at home. (Brodie et al. 2002; Bureau of the Census 2003a:158)
Per the article Bilingual Education: A Critique by Peter J. Duignan, Bilingual
Education has been debated since the 1960’s. This article follows the subject from the Civil Rights
Act in 1964 to the Bilingual Act in 1968 which decreed children should be taught in their native
tongue for a year while they are learning English. This mandate was largely ignored by bilingual
enthusiasts. English was neglected and Spanish became the norm. The Lau v. Nichols (1974)
decision was a landmark that caused Bilingual education to move away from a year to a multiyear
plan to teach children first in their original language first. This theory progressed to only Spanish
being taught, and bilingual education became Spanish cultural maintenance with English limited
to thirty minutes a day.
Per an article on Reference.com (Multilingualliving) In 1778, a year after it was written,
The Articles of Confederation (the predecessor to the Constitution of the United States) was
published in German. The issue of bilingualism in the US is centered on the Spanish language,
due partially to the number of recent Spanish speaking immigrants. In 2008, 12% of U.S.
residents spoke Spanish at home. More than half of those also spoke English in daily life.
Currently, multilingualism and the English-only...