Thread: Every immigrant who comes here should be required within five years to learn English

I would never force anyone to learn a language or punish them if they failed. I think you start getting in to very dangerous territory when you start controlling language. Forced cultural assimilation is never too pretty when you read about it in the history books.

What I'd do is give people every opportunity to learn. Most will, or at least their kids will. They'll need the language to survive. If they can survive without it, why worry. But forcing people isn't wise politically. People don't like to be told what to do. Reward them instead if they become functional in the language.

I moved to Quebec when I was 19. Couldn't speak two sentences of French. I hate the little things the province does to force me to learn French. If I've learned it (I have to a functional degree), it's because I was inticed by the culture, friendly neighbours, pretty girls. It definitely was not the office de la langue francaise that made me semi-bilingual, though.

It's hard to tell just looking at the thread, but it SEEMs maybe a lot of the Americans here agree with the quote that started the thread, which makes sense. The U.S. wants to be a 'melting pot'. Other countries choose the 'mosaic'. "Becoming American" is a sub-plot of the American dream.

I would tentatively suggest that the U.S. may be better served by spending energy on teaching its current citizens a second language. There's a lot of evidence that being bilingual is good for the brain and the heart (to put it a little poetically). Speaking more objectively, bilingual students generally score higher on IQ tests than unilingual students and demonstrate greater 'tolerance' (a unfortunate but common term) or open-mindedness. As it turns out I think there are more and more bilingual Americans, which is wonderful.