No Habla Espanol

Okay, I dare to bring up the age-old argument of this country's national language. What is it, anyway? As far as I knew, English has been the dominant language in the United States. But apparently, the United States Postal Service thinks otherwise. Last week at the post office, I noticed the poster that explained the rates of express and priority mail. To my surprise, I saw that it was in spanish! I looked around for the english version, but couldn't find a second poster. I then looked closer and noticed that both languages were represented, but the english was in smaller print and listed second to the spanish. Now, mind you, this was posted in a post office that is located in a neighborhood of predominantly upper middle class to upper class WHITE or ASIAN people. The few hispanics or latinos are usually found as gardeners in this town. Now, don't take this the wrong way and think that I am racist, because I am most suredly not. I am simply stating the truth. The majority of my graduating high school class was asian and white. I would have to look up in my yearbook to see if I had any hispanic classmates. There may have been a handful. So why is there Spanish plastered in BOLD print on the walls of our post office?

I am also not opposed at all to learning a second, or even a third language. I traveled abroad and spent time in other cultures. What I noticed most in my travels was American lack of education in foreign languages. I also noticed that other countries don't accomodate english in the same way we accomodate other languages. True, people from other countries are required to learn english starting at a young age. But I don't walk into a post office there and see bilingual posters. Thankfully, I was able to remember an adequate amount of French to get by in France, but it was also the kindness of strangers that helped me out. I did not expect whatsoever that these countries I visited would bend over backwards to put MY language first.

I realize that hispanics, have contributed greatly to our economy, especially here in California. That does not mean that we need to cater to them the way that we have for so many years. They are allowed to take their driver's license exam in Spanish! I couldn't do the same in their country! I couldn't take their driver's license exam in English, now, could I?

So what next? Is the next generation of American children going to take English as a Second language to Spanish in our schools? Okay, maybe I am overreacting. I just thought that it was rather astonishing that instructions for mailing packages was boldly in spanish. If I hadn't taken a second look, I would have thought that it was strictly for spanish speaking individuals. Maybe its just me, but this doesn't seem quite right.

It's funny how many can graduate high school without being able to create grammatically correct sentences or even spell, and instead of alleviating this problem, we just focus on another language entirely.