Letters

More on 'English Only'

Regarding the opinion-page article "Why English Should Be Official Language of US," Aug. 14: Two hundred years ago, a great experiment was undertaken on these shores. For the first time ever, a nation was founded and built on political principles. America is united not by language or religion, but by the common ideas articulated in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States.

No one can doubt that the experiment has been a great success. America is still the land where immigrants seek political freedom and economic opportunity. However, the day English becomes the official language of the US is the day the American experiment is aborted.

David E. Avery

Wakefield, R.I.

Thanks for the excellent piece. I would like to extend the discussion to bilingual education.

While the sink-or-swim immersion methods of yesteryear had their limitations, bilingualism has proven itself even more of a failure. It should be dropped from our schools. Instead, immigrant children should be enrolled in English-intensive programs until they are ready to pursue all of their school subjects in English.

Jim Hastings

Traverse City, Mich.