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Given Answer:
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The United States
of America has often been called the world's melting pot, because we are
a nation of immigrants. Another great truth of this analogy that is often
ignored is that melting requires the objects being melted to change. In a
melting pot a solid becomes a liquid and then it is returned to a solid
in a new form or shape. So it is with our great country, to be properly
assimilated as an American a person must be transformed into one.
Learning to speak and understand English as the official language is a
substantial portion of that conversion.
A common language is the single most
important factor in communication. In order to be a useful member of
society, an individual needs to be able to communicate. The story of the
tower of Babel in the Bible, demonstrates the result of a society where
the citizens are unable to speak with one another. The leaders were
incapable of relaying there wishes to the workers, and the workers couldn't
interact with each other. When communication failed, the society
collapsed, and with it, their goal of building a tower that reached to
heaven. Likewise a nation must have good communication in order to
accomplish its goals. English, being the most prevalent language in the
U.S., is the obvious choice for the official language.
Additionally, a common language is necessary for
national unity. With over three hundred different languages being spoken
the country, it is easy to see why we struggle with unity. Each faction
that speaks a different language is segregated from the rest of society.
This division causes unrest, as human nature makes people suspicious of
what they don't understand. Furthermore, they are unable to contribute to
government, resulting in a lack of understanding and general distrust of
the political system. Requiring new citizens to learn English wouldn't
deprive them of their heritage, rather it would make it far easier for
them to burgeon in our society.
We must designate English as our countries official
language if we are to continue to advance as a nation. The language
barrier acts as a fissure to divide our society. True equality requires
not that we accommodate everyone's native language, but that we teach
them our language, so they can truly become Americans.
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