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(Note: I am canadian but i lived much of my life in the states plus canada is facing a similar problem so for purposes of simplification i will refer to myself as american)
First of all, Cynicalgrrrl it seems that you have refuted your own point by first asking why people should learn english and then saying its common courtesy to learn a bit of spanish. Well by the same token, then what about all the other people in Texas? Don't you think it'd be a common courtesy for the spanish-speakers to learn english as well?
I think one of the author's only good points was the one about how places were turning into "city-states of foreigners". To give a different sort of perspective, i knew a ton of kids at my old high school who only spoke spanish or korean or chinese or whatever and had a limited grasp of english. It seems that instead of trying to learn english and blend in with the crowd, they just found people who also only spoke their native language and just hung out w/ them, and i can understand that because it obviously makes them feel more comfortable at the start but the problem is that they just stuck with what was comfortable and didn't try and make new mainly english speaking friends. If you expand that out of school, it applies to many immigrants in general; they congregate in areas where they feel comfortable like chinatown or greek town or whatever and then they just stay there without ever branching out or embracing american culture.
The underlying problem in fact seems to be that people don't respect American culture. Take for example that in muslim states women have to cover their faces. When people go there they are expected to conform to this standard in respect for the country they are in and its culture, and for the most part people do. So then why can't immigrants here respect the new country they have just moved to by learning english or playing some good 'ol american football? Just because we are a melting pot of many different races and cultures doesnt mean we havent created our own unique culture. I'm all for celebrating Chinese New Year or Ramadan, or in today's case, St. Patty's day but if immigrants expect us to respect their culture then they should respect ours.
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