Should schools, instead, create immigrant-language classes for all the other students to take so they can communicate with the immigrant children?
Should all businesses be required to hire immigrant-language-speaking clerks?
I believe in giving folks breaks...and helping them to learn...and bending over backwards to ensure they have a full grasp on what is going on around them.
But...I draw the line at mandating that their language and their culture supersede our own. If you want to live in America, learn to BE an American.
If I were to move to Greece or Italy or wherever, believe me I would attempt to "BE" Greek or Italian.
DR RLP, my point was that many people that I know simply feel the immigrants should know English...now...immediately. They don't understand that it doesn't happen overnight (since, of course they have never tried to learn another language or have forgotten what it was like to learn) and that just because they hear someone speaking in their native tongue doesn't mean that that person is not learning English or desiring to learn.
I was just saying that learning a new language is not easy. I know a little bit of Japanese and German, but I wouldn't feel comfortable speaking it in public, and I know that many people who move here, or are here only temporarily, may know some English but feel shy about using it.
I think you read a great deal more into my post then was there.
And as far as learning to BE an American.....which is and has always been an everchanging mixture of cultures....that is a whole other topic.