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I'm actually doing a paper on language spoken by immigrants and the hinderance it causes to integration.
In the Netherlands they are pretty well as tolerant of things as you can get. However, they are looking at enacting a "must speak Dutch" policy for immigration. The reason is simply that immigrants from Morocco and Turkey come to the country, and have their own schools (subsidized by the government). The first, second, and often third generation people there don't speak dutch.
This leads to a horde of problems that compound each other. Not speaking the language keeps young Arabs at an almost 50% unemployment rate. This causes the young, and now angry, Arabs to turn elsewhere which is why the crime rate among Arabs is exponentially higher. This in turn leads to racism, taxi drivers are now refusing to pick up Arabs because of a long string of robberies.
Any of this sounding familiar?
In turn because they do not speak the national language, these communities can only turn inward. Unfortunately these cause micro-nations within cities, and the killing of Theo Van Gogh shows exactly what becomes of it.
Should every citizen speak English in America? Yes
Should every citizen be able to speak at least a second language? Absolutely
Language is the means of conveyance for everything. If we can not communicate we can not discuss, we can not debate, we can not do commerce, we effectively become foreigners within our own country.
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"Smite the rocks with the rod of knowledge, and fountains of unstinted wealth will gush forth." - Ashbel Smith as he laid the first cornerstone of the University of Texas
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