For a fascinating discussion of a similar case in Michigan, see Nathan Glazer, "Black English and Reluctant Judges." Public Interest, No. 62 (Winter 1981): 40-54. 21. See David Tyack, The One Best System: A History of American Urban Education, Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1980, for a powerful analysis of why this is so. 22. For a more complete description and analysis of private education, see Denis P. Doyle, "A Din of Inequity: Private Schools Reconsidered,' Teachers College Record, and Bruce Cooper, et al, "The Latest Word on Private School Growth, Teachers College Record, Vol. 85, No. 1, (Fall 1983). וד 23. Joshua Fishman, et al, Non-English Resources of the United States (A Preliminary Return Visit), Final report to the Research Section, International Studies Branch, Department of Education, in connection with research supported under Grant G-00-79-01816, p. 20. 25. By this I do not mean to suggest that it is unimportant to the participants: to the teachers and students--the bilingual school community--it is very important indeed. In fact, its marginality in terms of the larger picture suggests that it is all the more important for those involved: they are swimming against a strong tide. 26. A notable example of market distortion cause by publicprivate competition is the relationship between libraries and bookstores, described by Charles Benson of U.C. Berkeley: they serve superficially similar functions, but in fact engage in very different markets which complement as well as compete. One makes available large numbers of a few very popular books for sale, the other a few copies of a very large number of books of limited popularity for loan. . A patron knows there will be a long wait for a bestseller at the library, and a long wait to back-order an obscure but important book at a bookstore. In each case the institution is responding rationally to the intensity function of customer demand. And the customer makes a rational decision as to which institution he will patronize based on the value of time and money. One analysis is that the bookseller is denied an important market segment by virtue of the existence of the free, public, lending library. (Indeed, in some countries libraries are membership organizations, fee-charging associations which exist in a limited market.) As well, authors are "denied" royalties by libraries that loan books. In the United Kingdom there is a strong movement provide impelled royalties for authors whose books are borrowed from lending libraries. The extent to which these practices distort book markets is an open question: absent the free alternative, people might read less. And an exclusively private market in books might mean inadequate investment in more obscure but nonetheless important items. 27. See James Coleman, "Public Schools, Private Schools and the Public Interest," The Public Interest, No. 64, (Summer 1981). 28. See Virgil Blum, Inner-City Private Education: A Study, (Milwaukee, Wisc: Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, 1982). 35. See Bruce Cooper, Donald H. McLaughlin, Bruno V. Manno, "The Latest Word on Private School Growth, "Teachers College Record, Vol. 85, No. 1, (Fall 1983): 88-99. 36. Education, at both the elementary and secondary levels, is labor- not capital-intensive. Thus, the barrier--or opportunity--to school creation is the availability of labor. Accordingly, in communities where interest in school founding is high, schools are readily founded (as are churches). In fact, a school is a relatively inexpensive community activity in terms of venture capital: keeping one running may be more difficult, but it requires no set of organization or management skills out of reach of ethnic minorities. While not "easy," staring a school is not particularly hard either. 37. As Cooper and his colleagues observe, "Clearly, the growth in the non-Catholic private sector is a sign of real entrepreneurship at the local level, for most of these new schools were opened through local, separate efforts, not a coordinated national push by large associations or churches. This growth pattern seems to indicate a broad-based, energetic, grass-roots attempt by families, religious congregations, and individuals to provide a special kind of schooling for children--much the same localist impulse, it seems, that built the American public school system in the nineteenth century." (Cooper, et al, ibid, p. 97) Blum, Virgil. Inner-City Private Education: A Study. Milwaukee, Wisc: The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, 1982. Bowles, Samuel, and Gintis, Herbert. Schooling in Capitalist America: Educational Reform and the Contradictions of Economic Life. New York: Basic Books, 1976. Breneman, David, and Epstein, Noel. "Uncle Sam's Growing Clout in the The Washington Post, August 6, 1978. Classroom. Coleman, James. "Public Schools, Private Schools and the Public t Cooper, Bruce; McLaughlin, Donald H.; Word on Private School Growth." 1:88-99. Doyle, Denis P. "A Din of Inequity: Private Schools Reconsidered." Teachers College Record 82, No. 4:661-674. Elford, George. A Study of" Bilingual Instructional Practices in Non-Public Schools. Princeton, N.J.: Educational Testing Service, 1982. Fishman, Joshua A. Non-English Language Resources of the United States (A Preliminary Return Visit). New York: Yeshiva University, 1980. Fishman, Joshua A., and Markman, Barbara A. The Ethnic Mother-Tongue School in America: Assumptions, Findings, Directory. New York: Yeshiva University, 1980. Glazer, Nathan. "Black English and Reluctant Judges." Public Interest 62:40-54. Rotberg, Iris C. "Some Legal and Research Considerations in Harvard Salur, Keith A., and de Kanter, Adriana A., eds. Bilingual Education: A Reappraisal of Federal Policy. New York: Lexington Books, 1983. Schlossman, Steven. "George I. Sanchez and Enduring Dilemmas in Bilingual Education." Teachers College Record 84, Number 4:871-907. American "Is There An American Tradition of Bilingual Education? German in the Public Elementary Schools, 1840-1919." Journal of Education 91, No. 2:139-186. Simon, Paul. The Tongue-Tied American: Confronting the Foreign Language Crisis. New York: Continuum, 1980. Stanfield, Rochelle L. "Are Federal Bilingual Rules a Foot in the Schoolhouse Door?" The National Journal, October 18, 1980. Tyack, David. The One Best System: A History of American Urban Education. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1980. STATEMENT OF JOSEPH E. MILLER, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR THE AMERICAN LEGION TO THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE CONSTITUTION Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee on the Constitution of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, The American Legion is pleased with this opportunity to present its views on S.J. Res. 167, a Constitutional Amendment which would designate English as the Official national language of the United States of America. For your convenience we have attached a copy of The American Legion's Resolution number 24-F-83 which was adopted by the National Executive Committee of the Legion in October 1983. Mr. Chairman, the United States has enjoyed one of the most significant unifying forces with which a nation can be blessed, a common language. Yet, everyone who resides in this country is of immigrant stock. Even the American Indian is descended from Asian stock that migrated, it is estimated, to this continent, somewhere around sixty thousand years ago. Certainly, then in geologic terms, we are all new-comers. More recently the French, the Spanish, the Dutch, the English, and Russian all laid claim to some part of the North American continent. Yet, whether through treaty or war, the languages were supplanted by the language of the dominant force, English. Likewise, immigrants to this country during the 1800's and early years of this century were more than willing to accept the language of the dominant power, English. While many of these newly arrived immigrants never really mastered the English language, they saw to it that their sons and daughters developed the necessary proficiency in their adopted ton new-comers. gue. In many ways, the use of English was forced upon the A polyglot society, English was the one language that could at least marginally be understood by the Polish, Dutch, Swedish, German and other immigrants suddenly finding themselves thrown together. The lesson was profound. It taught these new Americans that regardless of whether they were Jewish, Italian or Russian their ability to succeed was dependent wholly on their ability to communicate with others. Quickly, these immigrants learned that the key to full integration and acceptance as well as economic success was available only through the vehicle of a common language. The language at home may have been Russian, Polish or French, but the language of the streets was English. 7 This distinguished subcommittee has been placed in a unique position among Congressional Committees, that of safeguarding from spurious change that most precious of all American documents, the Constitution of the United States of America. The proposed amendment to our Constitution which would set English as the official national language is not, however, a spurious change. Rather it is a reaffirmation of the design of the Constitution itself and its goal of unifying a diverse group of citizens under a common law in one nation with one language, the language of the Constitution, English. In fact, the very first statement made in the preamble of the Constitution is "We the people of the United States...." That phrase, in English, is all encompassing. Equally important is what follows, "...promote the general welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity...." fact is, that the founding fathers, who themselves came from several European nations, used English as common medium of, communication. The As a group of war time veterans who served this country and its citizens during two world wars, Korea and Vietnam The American Legion has a special interest in the issue of preserving the unity of this nation under a single language. Preserv ing the independence and freedom of the United States, as each |