English Not The Official Language Of Usa English Language Essay

English Not The Official Language Of Usa English Language Essay English is an official language of at least 50 countries. In this list the United States of America is excluded. English might be viewed as the national language due to its popularity in America but that is not the case. The U.S. has never had an official language since its foundation. At the foundation of the United States of America in 1780, there was some proposal by some individuals like Adam john and others who held similar opinion to start a government English academy that would teach English with the aim of making it the national language. This early attempt was rejected by the government congress on the base that they were a threat to the liberty of individual American citizens. The conservative founding fathers were of the viewed their ancestral languages as their rights and opposed any measure to have a single national language Since then, there has been conflict of interest between the whites, the natives and the immigrant, every time there is an economic downturn and job prospects reduces, this brings an anti-immigrant backlash. Many white, English-speaking Americans are of the opinion that the immigrant should just go home and leave the jobs to them. The backlash fuels the need to create a push to make English the nation language which the whites should identify themselves with and in the process excluding people who primarily speak other languages, whether they are U.S. citizens, legal residents, or illegal residents. There have been several movements coming up in the recent past, but the only English based movement to support English as a national language was an email making rounds in the internet. This email regards the senators who were against the amendment of a bill that would make English as the official language as un-American and does not spend the spirit of national hood and traitorous. The United States English says that official English promotes unity, empowers immigrants, and creates common-sense government policies. I am of a different opinion that English should not be made a national language. Official English: Promoting Unity The idea with those that support this debate is that if everyone speaks the same language, it facilitates melting-of different culture to create a common culture. This assimilation through making all the documents to be in the English language will then encourage and make people to put more incentive to learn English to promote a common culture. This will in turn eliminate the diversity that America enjoys making other language and culture appear inferior or second to English culture. This is where I have a problem, expecting everyone to assimilate into one culture. Cultural backgrounds are part of what America is today. Why should we not promote and celebrate them even to the point of forming enclaves? As long as people are willing to respect the laws of the land, I dont see a problem with this. And I dont know of any language-based racial and ethnic conflicts that have taken place in the U.S. Official English: Empowering Immigrants Promoting English to be the national language helps to empower the immigrant by incorporating them to the American system of education and making them to develop the American ideology to fit in America society well. I have to say America may have been founded by people who spoke many different langues but those coming to America or those that existed before English became a dominant language need to learn English to survive. Affluence in the English language makes it easy to get a good job and become more productive members of the society. I have to respectfully disagree with this school of thoughts. Regardless of whether they need to survive is different from throwing someone who doesnt know the language into a situation where they have no way of learning it. In time they adapt to new cultures. The immigrant instead should not be subjected to learning a language that they do not understand or served with documents in language they do not understand into a completely new culture espe cially one with the American dream Official English: to cut down government expenditure This is the money argument geared towards or viewed to reduce the government expenditures by making several copies of each government document in the multiple languages being spoken or understood by different group in the country and that if we eliminate this, well save money, which can be used for teaching English. This seems too many like a noble ideal but this argument is the baseless and considers insignificant revenue compared to expenses to be incurred by non English speaking citizens seeking for translation. The government do not have the goodwill to make this legislation work. Teaching English will not eliminate the needs for other languages. Even native English speakers can have trouble understanding government forms its got to be even more difficult for people who speak English as a second language. Providing forms in other languages would help ensure that people fill out important forms correctly. Official English: Abridging Peoples Rights The laws promises people equal protection. By making English as the official language the government would be depriving some citizen their rights to defend themselves in court and denying them the right to freedom of association with other members of the society and interaction with the governments services. The law is very clearly stated and. I quote Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. Making English a national language would be against the law. Thats unfair and it also makes me wonder whether the point is not to make people learn to speak English, but to make the non-English-speaking people go away and make their language look inferior and can only be used in t their homeland where it originated but have no place in the us. Official English: Perpetuating Stereotypes The debate and the movements for English as the national has brought up a divide between the citizens by exposing the difference the t exists between them which never existed or was originally minimal. English-only legislation does not explicitly promote stereotypes, but the movement does have the effect of making people look down on people who speak languages other than English. Many people who hold this opinion will assume that all non English speakers are illegal immigrants who shouldnt be in America, for instance, and the push for English-only just reinforces attitudes like that, by implying that speaking another language is a negative trait. Making English the official language would send an unequivocal message of unwelcome to the non-English parts of the world, completely counter to the melting pot ideal which makes the U.S. so great. AN OFFICIAL LANGUAGE WOULD ACCOMPLISH NOTHING Its not like making English the official language would magically make everyone in the U.S. speak English. Making English the official language wouldnt even stop other languages from making appearances here. It wouldnt remove that Para Espanola, marquee echoes ascent from this country. Those differences arent there because of some sinister plot by archliberals to destroy the U.S. with political correctness. Theyre there because their presence brings an American way of life that makes it and sells it around the world and make everyone to enjoy this dream. Leave them people alone, 99% cant even speak English right leave any other language out, there is no point of bulling this people, infant they speak the other languages amongst themselves are. Most people against others speaking any other language amongst them are in most cases with very low education and understanding. Let people use the languages they best understand amongst themselves leave them alone. LEAVE IT UP TO THE STATES One consequence of making English the official language of the U.S. is that this would rule out any individual states having any say in the matter. Since the U.S. was founded, theres been a gradual erosion of power for the states. Originally, it was like there were four nodes in the famous and oft-cited system of checks and balances of the U.S. government: the executive branch, the legislative branch, the judicial branch, and the states. Some U.S. states have enshrined English as the official language, and some have not. In one such example a large number of people in the New Mexico state are Spanish speakers. It would make no sense for the federal government to order a state like this to make English the official language. WONT SOMEONE THINK OF THE NATIVE AMERICANS? Some of the people arguing for English as an official language pose it that; its already the de-facto official language, for all practical intents and purposes. But, by that logic, the official language shouldve originally been a mishmash of Native American tongues. Its very clear that many USA citizens dont know their own history and the sacrifice that their own country went through. The Dominicans are the founder of the Americas. America is no English name and most of the states in the union are from the Spanish. Most of the American is so insecure of their true identity Early immigrants and colonists from Europe learned the language that was dominant in North America at that time, not of Britain! English is a third language according to America history and giving it greater priority over the original native language would be discriminating the native population. The United States was colonized by immigrants from different countries .people should understand that the Spaniards were the 1st to arrive to America even before the English men from Britain. Since America was made on immigrants, it is every immigrants RIGHT to keep and use his native language.

“Aladdin” Positive And Negative Essay

Would you want your child to see a film like â€Å"Aladdin,† that may be just a harmless cartoon or a dangerous brain washer? There are positive messages and negative messages about each gender, some of the messages may get mixed together in a child’s mind making right versus wrong confusing for the young child. A positive example for men is when genie tells Aladdin to tell the truth. An example of a negative message about men is when Aladdin is trying to act â€Å"macho† as the prince. For women a positive message is to stand up for your self. A negative message is the exaggerated body figures and sizes. With all the positive and negative images from â€Å"Aladdin† in a young child’s head it may be hard for he or she to figure out what is good or bad. In â€Å"Aladdin† there are messages that children should see because they promote a good idea. For example, when Aladdin decided to use his last wish to free Genie it shows that men can show affection to other men. Nowadays, you always see men fighting and battling, but never showing any love for each other it is good to see that they are showing little children it is okay to have love. It shows children that it’s okay to act â€Å"soft,† you don’t always have to wear the tough guy image. Another good message is when Aladdin finally tells the truth to Jasmine, the message is that honesty is the best policy. It tells kids that lying and lying makes it even harder to finally tell the truth. It is one of the classic lessons that says telling the truth is always best because it saves you from more trouble in the end. A great message about men in â€Å"Aladdin† is that men should respect women, like when the first thing Aladdin mentions when describing Jasmine is her smarts not something shallow like her attractiveness. It shows kids that there is more than just looks in a human being you have to go deeper than the skin to find true beauty. It teaches children that caring for people regardless of looks or appearance is important. The positive messages give a good image for children to remember to tell the truth, or treat someone with respect. With the positive messages of men there are also confusing negative messages about men for young children. When Aladdin lies to everyone about being a prince it doesn’t help him in his relationships because everyone loves him as a prince. Children believe that to get what they want all they need to do  is lie. Children will not understand that lying can get you in more trouble than telling the truth. Another negative message is when Aladdin tries to play the â€Å"cool, tough and confident† prince. It shows kids that if you really want to be something cool you must act like something you aren’t. It seems hard enough for children to find their own identity and this message doesn’t help because it gives them the idea that cool is a certain thing. One of the most absurd messages is that Jafar is shown tall, thin, dark and has a very deep voice. This is bad because kids may think that all dark people are evil which is a horrible idea of racism. Children should not see the color of an evil but just as the evil, skin color should not be related. Although there are positive messages there are negative messages about men. For the women in â€Å"Aladdin† there are positive messages that young girls should see. For example, Jasmine chooses not to marry any prince that her father, the sultan, brings to her. This shows that girls can stand up for themselves and hold their own when faced with critical situations, like forced marriage. In cartoons you usually see the women dependent on a rich male, it is good to see that in cartoons women are shown as strong characters. Another example of a positive message for women is when Jasmine trusts Aladdin and Aladdin as a prince. It shows how women are trustworthy and can be trusted. It also shows that trust is an important aspect of love. When Jasmine refuses to marry any rich handsome man that is brought to her it shows she is not shallow. This shows how a women can make a living on her own with out the help of a huge paycheck and a man. It also shows that there is more to love than good looks, there are deeper attractions than only looks. The positive mes sages are good for young girls to see. Although there are positive messages about women in â€Å"Aladdin† there are also dangerous messages. When Jasmine is to help Aladdin get the lamp back from Jafar, she uses very seductive and sexual movements to try and succeed in doing what she wants. It is scary to think that in a child’s cartoon there are messages of selling your body to get what you want. This is dangerous because a girl may begin acting sexually at a very early age and unknowingly. Although Princess Jasmine stood up for herself she is also dependent on men during certain situations. After all these years women  should be shown separately from men as individual humans. A young girl may think that the only way for her to succeed is with a man to help her. All throughout the movie all of the â€Å"pretty† girls are big eyed, have tiny feet, have full chests and are skinny as their necks while the â€Å"ugly† girls are shown gigantic. A girl always wants to be pretty and if by being pretty it means extremely skinny, then she may associate ugly with food and eating disorders may develop. This message seems as though it was made to discourage children and they may become very saddened over something that is not their fault. With all the different messages given to children through the carton â€Å"Aladdin you can see how it may be confusing to the child about negative and positive. This film shows positive messages and negative messages about men and women. Because the movie has so many descriptions of good and bad the child may get confused about what to do in real life situation.

Caribbean Civilization

Lecture Lesson IV IV. Race, Nationalism, Independence, Dependence and Regionalism. The genesis of colonialism in the Caribbean and how it has taken root in the political, social and economic institutions. Race and Class and how they both cohere to shape the social, political and economic landscape of the Caribbean.Explain and understand how these forces work to determine the mosaic of Caribbean society, for example, how they resonate and reinforce rigid institutional hierarchies in education, politics and religion and they have been the major determinants of stratification and social identity in the region since colonization. Can we divorce race and class from nationalism? Students are then asked to provide an answer to this. What is plantation society and why is still so important to Caribbean society.How race, class and nationalism are bound up in the legacy of the plantation society created by the colonizers. For example features of Plantation Society are:  ¦ – keeping co lonial peoples technologically deficient  ¦ maintaining colonial peoples as producers of primary raw materials  ¦ keeping colonial peoples bound to the mother country through the policy of trade exclusivism  ¦ limited horizontal linkages between the colonies except through the British government  ¦ The legacy of colonialism has shaped contemporary politics in the region.It has led to among other things the establishment of a colour hierarchy white over brown over black. And, it has been institutionalised by the political systems in the region.  ¦ The Comprador Bourgeoisie: In the English-speaking Caribbean, the landowning class owed loyalty ultimately to the metropolis, even though it might have disagreed on particular policies implemented in the colonies or on the correct system of government to be pursued. ‘ More than economic interests, the plantocracy by the end of the nineteenth century was united in defence of its whiteness. The nation states of the region are still struggling to establish sovereignty. This is partly because key roles in decision-making are still assigned to the metropolitan state, to international organizations or to elites allied to external markets, who view the masses of the region not as fellow citizens but as groups to be excluded from society and the polity. In these circumstances, nation-building is incomplete. Examine the rise of the nationalist class with strong family connections and class cleavages and how they usurped the role of the working class and their access to power.As such even though the nationalists led us towards ‘independence’ political parties are still controlled by the middle class, who are often financed by private capital and only using as voting support the mass of the people who are still basically apathetic and alienated from government. One finds that much of government time is still taken up with politicking the community. Examine the role of the nationalists in relation to independence as these contested groups are in conflict as they seek to exclude others from membership.Examine the contradictions within this group as they serve to reinforce dependent relations manifested through coordinated groupings such as the comprador bourgeoisie. ‘Independence’ did not usually result in radical changes in the lives of the majority. Hierarchies were reproduced, just deracialised in the Caribbean. In many cases, the change was mostly a matter of American born whites replacing the British born whites or West Indian intelligentsia, replacing the British colonials. Democratic constitutions were facades. Political and economic power still remained concentrated in the hands of a few linked by class, ethnicity and religion.Examine whether independence is genuine or not. Look at the notion of neo-colonialist tendencies that exist for example: †¢ The economies are still controlled from outside and therefore important decisions on the use of resources t he distributions of wealth and foreign policy is largely also controlled from outside. †¢ Constitutional reality does not always coincide with political reality. The territories of the West Indies still exhibit characteristics of rigidly stratified societies with gross inequalities of wealth and status and an alarming and growing state of unemployment overall poverty and economic dependence. These countries’ independence did not usually result in radical changes in the lives of the majority. Rather, hierarchies were reproduced, just deracialised in the Caribbean. The change was mostly a matter of American born whites replacing the British born whites. Democratic constitutions were facades. Political and economic power still remained concentrated in the hands of a few linked by class, ethnicity and religion. In light, of the above examine if independence is a facade. -Can there be a true West Indian identity since the Caribbean is constructed on faulty premises? What is i t within our psyche that has impeded so natural and so necessary a development in the West Indies? -Look at how race and class and nationalism interweave and how they have helped to undermine more genuine attempts at forging a Caribbean identity. Examine why a West Indian identity is critical to the realization of any integration movement. Outline the negative reasons of what could happen if we do not forge a Caribbean region that draws on our collective strength through unity and for a common brotherhood and enlightened nationalism.How can we best improve our society such as government’s role in involving the people of the region through not only informing them but also fully involving them in the processes of decision-making on the forms of political unity. †¢ For example: That the forms of regional unity do not merely institutionalize social inequality and economic justice but improve our capability to redress them and provide machinery that will make an obligation to do so effectively. †¢ We must have a commitment to the ideal of nationhood and a capability n the part of that leadership to generate that commitment throughout our communities. †¢ We must be ready to act in pursuit of that commitment of a regional identity along with those within the region who share that commitment and resolution. But in so acting we must make clear that we proceed on no basis of divisiveness or of exclusion. †¢ While it is the responsibility of government to initiate action it is essential that the people of the region shall not merely be fully informed but fully involved in the processes of decision-making.That the forms of unity do not merely institutionalize social inequality and economic justice but improve our capability to redress them and provide machinery that will make an obligation to do so effectively. †¢ Education becomes important, but not just any type of education: †¢ Scientific reclamation and revitalisation: †¢ We m ust be able to see ourselves not only as a people with rhythm but also with reason, and intellect. We have to instill in our curriculum scientific technology for a new age. Examine the notion that one of the hallmarks of colonialism was to give to the colonies whatever was obsolete in Europe.And we still find developed countries shipping their discards to the world they helped underdeveloped and we must therefore study the latest technologies and teach them in our schools. The lecture provided other examples which students may wish to research. Drawing on the history of race and class and nationalism and independence and regional integration, it seems clear that any West Indian identity that does not stand on a regional base of social equality and economic justice does not rest on sure foundations and will not survive the stress of internal social upheaval and the shifting sands of uneven regional development. References Beckford, G. (1972) Persistent Poverty, New York: Oxford Unive rsity Press.  ¦ Hall, K. (2001) ‘The Caribbean Community: Beyond Survival,’ Kingston: IRP.  ¦ James, CLR, (1962) ‘The Middle Classes,’ in Lowenthal, D. and Comitas L. (1973) Consequences of Class and Colour: West Indian Perspectives, New York: Anchor Books.  ¦ Levitt, K. and Witter, M. (1996) The Critical Tradition of Caribbean Political Economy, Jamaica: IRP.  ¦ Manley, M. (1982) Struggle in the Periphery, London: Heineman  ¦ Munroe, T. (1985) Introduction to Politics, Jamaica: UWI.  ¦ Nkruhmah, K. (1965) Neo-Colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism, London: Nelson. Payne, A. and Sutton, P. (1984) Dependency under Challenge: The Political Economy of the Commonwealth Caribbean, Manchester.  ¦ Ryan, S. (1972) Race and Nationalism in Trinidad and Tobago, Toronto: University of Toronto Press.  ¦ Stone, C. (1971) Decolonisation and Political Change in Jamaica and Trinidad, USA: Sage Publications.  ¦ Sunshine, C. (1996) The Caribbean, Surviva l, Struggle and Sovereignty, Washington: Epicon.  ¦ Watson, H. ed. (1994) The Caribbean in the Global Political Economy, Jamaica: IRP.  ¦ Williams, E. (1970) From Columbus to Castro, New York: Harper and Row.

Why You Should Use JavaScript on Your Site

Not everyone has JavaScript available in their web browser and a number of those who are using browsers where it is available have it turned off. It is therefore necessary that your web page be able to function properly for those people without using any JavaScript at all. Why then would you want to add JavaScript to a web page that already works without it? Reasons Why You May Want to Use JavaScript There are several reasons for why you may want to use JavaScript on your web page even though the page is usable without the JavaScript. Most of the reasons relate to providing a friendlier experience for those of your visitors who do have JavaScript enabled. Here are a few examples of proper use of JavaScript to improve your visitors experience. JavaScript Is Great for Forms Where you have forms on your web page that your visitor needs to fill out that form content will need to be validated before it can be processed. You will, of course, have server-side validation that validates the form after it is submitted and which reloads the form highlighting the errors if anything invalid has been entered or mandatory fields are missing. That requires a round trip to the server when the form is submitted to perform the validation and report the errors. We can speed up that process significantly by duplicating that validation using JavaScript and by attaching much of the JavaScript validation to the individual fields. That way the person filling out the form who has JavaScript enabled has immediate feedback if what they enter into a field is invalid instead of their filling out the whole form and submitting it and then having to wait for the next page to load to give them feedback. The form works both with and without JavaScript and provides more immediate feedba ck when it can. A Slideshow A slideshow consists of a number of images. In order for the slideshow to function without JavaScript the next and previous buttons that work the slideshow need to reload the entire web page substituting the new image. This will work but will be slow, particularly if the slideshow is only one small part of the page. We can use JavaScript to load and replace the images in the slideshow without needing to reload the rest of the web page and so make the slideshow operation much faster for those of our visitors with JavaScript enabled. A Suckerfish Menu A suckerfish menu can operate entirely without JavaScript (except in IE6). The menus will open when the mouse hovers over them and close when the mouse is removed. Such opening and closing will be instant with the menu just appearing and disappearing. By adding some JavaScript we can have the menu appear to scroll out when the mouse moves over it and scroll back in when the mouse moves off of it giving a nicer appearance to the menu without affecting the way the menu works. JavaScript Enhances Your Web page In all appropriate uses of JavaScript, the purpose of the JavaScript is to enhance the way the web page works and to provide those of your visitors who have JavaScript enabled with a friendlier site than is possible without the JavaScript. By using JavaScript in an appropriate way you encourage those who have a choice as to whether they will allow the JavaScript to run or not to actually have it turned on for your site. Remember that a number of those who do have a choice and who have chosen to turn JavaScript off have done so due to the way in which some sites completely misuse javaScript so as to make their visitors experience of their site worse rather than better. Dont you be one of those using JavaScript inappropriately and therefore encouraging people to turn off JavaScript.