Friday, January 30, 1987/The Battalion/Page 3
State and Local
roup wants English as state language
By Melanie Perkins *
Staff Writer
“There is no room in this country
or hyphenated Americanism,” Pres-
dert Theodore Roosevelt said in a
peei li before the Knights of Colum-
ms in New York City on October 12,
9IT “The one absolutely certain
vay of bringing this nation to ruin,
)f preventing all possibility of its
:ontinning to be a nation at all,
§ Hid be to permit it to become a
angle of squabbling nationalities.”
I^Hhis is just what the American
Lthnic Coalition is trying to prevent,
H Lou Zaeske of Bryan, founder
/ H chairman of the non-partisan,
ion-profit organization working for
I Honstitutional amendment that
vould make English the official lan-
i Hge of both Texas and the United
■a^fcsof America.
“We have room for but one lan-
1 Hge here and that is the English
I ^^juage,” Roosevelt continued,
‘for we intend to see that the cruci-
C )le inrns our people out as Ameri-
:ans, and not as dwellers in a poly-
B Hboardinghouse.”
|■■eske says the membership of
__tie AEG couldn’t agree more. They
g Hve the English language is what
iolds out nation together, and, to be
MAble to properly partake of the
JIjUTurican Dream, it is necessary to
jlHroficiem in English. Bilingua-
^ trilinguilism or quadrilngua-
.. sm serve only to divide the nation
c long ethnic lines, Zaeske says.
^®®^Bhe AEG was founded in Bryan
a jo. on July 4, 1986, the same day the
Igor [Statue of Liberty was rededicated af-
:ment(f :er 100 years of “symbolizing Ameri-
|j n( j :an freedom to peoples of all na-
‘ ions.”
^^"^■he founding stemmed from the
ingratifying experiences last year of
jgjneer/aeske and Bill Toney, vice chair-
( j t nan of the organization.
Jr^Hiieske was the floor leader of an
8' 1 ittempt to place a pro-English plank
ersil': n ^] ie Republican Party state plat-
ion tj form at its convention, while Toney
gineewas the floor leader of a similar at-
uss rniempt at the Democratic State Con-
( ( t'ention. Both attempts failed, and
he AEG was born.
tn afl Zaeske says the coalition feels spe-
t, topwic legislation needs to be estab-
jmpan' ished w ill make English the of-
pany. iicial language of Texas and the
ment (k^J|
jobs, t
lard. As
ob listf-r
ailable:
cour.::
;neni. h
of wb
ir a def
in May.
Photo by Dean Saito
Lou Zaeske of Bryan, founder and chairman of the American Ethnic
Coalition, explains some of the group’s proposals.
United States, and that the AEG is
now circulating a petition.
“In recent times, there seems to be
some ethnic minorities who want to
cling to their language to the detri
ment of themselves and to our na
tion as well,” Zaeske says.
Nebraska, Georgia, Virginia, Illi
nois, Kentucky, California, and In
diana have already adopted English
as their official state language, and
Florida is currently working toward
this goal.
But the AEG is not without oppo
sition, especially by Hispanic and
Asian-American organizations, some
of which see the movement as an En
glish-only movement, which, Zaeske
says, it is not.
In an Aug. 21 article in the Hous
ton Chronicle, Oscar Moran of San
Antonio, national president of the
League of United Latin American
Citizens said, “The English-only
movement sends the negative mes
sage to language minority groups
that if they chose to be actively bil
ingual they are perceived to be un-
American or unpatriotic.”
Rep. Gregory Luna, D-San Anto
nio, resents the move to make En
glish the official language of Texas.
“We who grew up as I did —
speaking Spanish first — should not
be subjected to feeling like a class
less patriotic,” Luna says.
He also says a linguistic variety is
needed or further discrimination
will result.
Rep. Frank Madia, D-San Anto
nio, says the Texas Legislature has
far more important issues — like tort
reform, budget, education — facing
it this session.
“By custom, English is already our
language,” Madia says.
Closer to home, Marcelo Villena,
president of the International Stu
dents Association at A&M, says if
English was to be proclaimed the of
ficial language of the state of Texas,
much of what the different cultures
have to offer would be lost.
A related objective of the AEG is
to abolish bilinguhl education as it
now exists.
Zaeske says the bilingual program
only causes students to cling to their
native language because they are not
really motivated to ease their way
into the American public.
Madia says he has had references
concerning bilingual education for
quite some time and is for revamp
ing the program.
“Bilingual education needs to em
phasize students moving into an all
English classroom as quickly as possi
ble,” he says.
The bilingual program segregates
students for years, Zaeske says, and
some even graduate from high
school in places like Brownsville
functionally illiterate in English.
“There are leaders — self-styled
leaders not necessarily of Spanish or
Mexican extraction —- who would
like nothing better than to keep
these people trapped by language in
a subtle form of serfdom,” Zaeske
says.
True freedom is economic free
dom, he says, and economic free
dom is not possible in this country
without a functional knowledge of
English. Zaeske says people who
don’t have this knowledge are
trapped because they have to rely on
others for information.
In place of bilingual education,
Zaeske strongly supports the con
cept of “total immersion,” which in
volves teaching various subjects in
English rather than bilingually, or
teaching English before going on to
other subjects. An example of the
latter is the English Language Insti
tute at Texas A&M, where interna
tional students learn English —
grammer, reading, speaking, listen
ing, talking and writing — before
they begin their studies at A&M .
Luna says total immersion would
probably be appropriate for adult
education, but a child would suffer
trauma.
The bilingual education contro
versy started in the late 1970s when
the U.S. Supreme Court ordered a
California school district to provide
transitional instruction to help an
Oriental girl named Lau to learn En
glish, Zaeske says.
“Since this time, a move for biling
ual education has been afoot, mainly
by the Hispanic minority in Califor
nia, New Mexico and Texas, who
seized upon this as a way to reinforce
their culture at taxpayers’ expense,”
he says.
Bilingual programs by law are
supposed to incorporate the cultural
aspects of a student’s background,
Zaeske says. He pointed out that he
is half German and half Czech, and
didn’t have his ethnic heritage re
inforced at taxpayers expense —and
that it shouldn’t have been.
“I do believe every ethnic mi
nority in this country should take
pride in its ethnic heritage,” he says,
“but the bottom line is that we are a
nation united and there are few
things in this country that really
unite us as a country. Language is
one of them.”
The AEG also is committed to
doing whatever necessary to end ille
gal immigration into the United
States.
“Immigration to America should
be in the legal, dignified manner
American citizenship deserves,”
Zaeske says, “and not over the fence
like thieves in the night.”
U.S. defector's
mail piles up
at post office
HOUSTON (AP) — Mail ad
dressed to Arnold Lockshin’s
house in Houston has not been
forwarded since the cancer re
searcher and his family defected
to the Soviet Union last fall,
postal officials confirmed.
Since Lockshin and his family
announced at a Moscow news
conference that they were relo
cating to escape U.S. political op
pression, their mail has been pil
ing up at a local post office.
The South Post Oak Post Of
fice has a change of address order
on file for the Lockshin family,
but has not acted on it because it
was not signed by the Lockshins
personally, U.S. Postal Service
spokesman Forrest Rogers said
Wednesday.
Rogers said the form was
signed by a Florida woman,
whose name he did not disclose.
When Houston postal officials
received the change of address
order Oct. 22, they asked U.S.
Postal Service lawyers whether
they should honor it, Rogers said.
The lawyers advised them to be
gin returning the Lockshins’ mail
back to the senders in 30 days if
no other word was received from
the couple.
Correction
A Jan. 23 article in The Battal
ion on University construction
stated that the new Chemistry
Building will be used primarily
for research while the old build
ing will be renovated and used
for classrooms and laboratories.
The information was received
from Dan Whitt, assistant vice
chancellor for facilities planning
and construction. However, Mi
chael B. Hall, head of the chemis
try department, informs The Bat
talion that the new Chemistry
Building will be primarily for un
dergraduate teaching.
1987 Business Career Fair
tism in-
alion.
orpsT
ssizM
RETAIL SYMPOSIUM
Sunday, February 1
4:00-7:30pm College Station Hilton Tickets $3.
Keynote: Is Retailing for You?
Five Things You Should Know Before Leaving
School
I How an Internship Can Help Your Career
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7:30-9:00pm Reception
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Hilton Ballroom
Monday, February 2
-e tw°
nA*
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12:00 noon-2pm Luncheon Honoring Donald Zale
224 MSC
BY INVITATION ONLY
Winners of the Stanley Marcus Retailing
Communcations Competition announced
For More Information, please contact Judy
Buchholtz 845-0325
WOMEN IN BUSINESS
SYMPOSIUM
./
Monday, February 2
All Presentations by THE EXECUTIVE WOMEN OF DALLAS
8:00am Balancing Home & Family Responsibilities with the
Demands of Career and Professional Life 102 Blocker
9:00am Strategies for Success, for Both Women and Men 102
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10:00am Balancing Home & Family Responsibilities with the
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11:00am Strategies for Success, for Both Women and Men 100
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12:00 noon Luncheon Hilton tickets $10. 75
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“Women, You Deserve It!” Address by Pat Pearson, Author,
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12:00 noon Balancing Home & Family Responsibilities with the
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1:00pm Strategies for Success, for Both Women and Men
164 Blocker
2:00pm Stategies for Success, for Both Women and Men
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