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When English Is the Rule at Work

by carloscfranco | January 27, 2008 at 02:04 pm | 322 views | add comment

In the Highlighted article, "When English Is the Rule at Work" by Kelley Holland of the New York Times, some interesting points about the enforcement and overall perception of having an "English Only" rule in the workplace are brought to the surface of the public mind once again. I found while reading this article, that this topic raised some questions that were not, but need to, be taken into account and addressed.

Question 1: Is it the role of government to enforce or protect such a rule when in fact, there is no official language for the United States?

Question 2: With the "browning" of labor that appears to be increasing in the United States, why is there only a single-sided approach to this problem being talked about?

Follow up 1: What about a push for bilingual education from the leaders of industry? The advantage of broad-change and financial backing would clearly be on their side.

Hypothetical: How different would the results be if the government, or civil rights activists, or even industry heads themselves, pushed managers and CEOs to become bilingual (because their job depended on it) instead of pushing front-line employees to English?

Question 3: With a falling Dollar, the exponential growth of America's Hispanic population, and tighter globalization being actualized with projects like the North American Union and it's Amero, how is American business going to evolve?

I can't imagine that this is at all, a problem that can be so simply solved by such a one-dimensional solution.  I think that we are just at the foot of this problem and already we are fumbling around, and in danger of being trampled.

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January 27, 2008 at 02:04 pm by carloscfranco, 322 views, add comment

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