"English-only" is here to stay:
A federal judge ruled Friday that a Wichita Catholic school policy requiring students to speak only English didn't break any civil rights laws.
[...] The Rev. Thomas Leland, St. Anne's pastor, said that English was the "common ground" for all the students and teachers.
"As long as we have a common ground, that is where we have to meet," Leland testified Friday.
A diocese spokesman said the church realizes there's mending to do in the parish, about a third of whose members are Hispanic.
"There's a desire to bridge the problem," Fred Solis said on behalf of the diocese, "and to bridge the pain."
It makes perfect sense. English is the language of the U.S., just as English and French are the official languages of Canada. Those who come to live in our countries must accommodate us and learn our language or languages, and not the other way around.
I always shudder – and I say this as a translator and interpreter – when I think of the tax dollars being wasted on providing court interpreters for criminals in a wide range of languages. The same is true of hospitals and social services.
When in Rome, do as the Romans do ... and that means that wherever you decide to live, it is your duty to learn, at a minimum, the language of the land, instead of expecting others to bend over backwards for you at their expense.
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