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Argument: Official English degrades image of other languages

Issue Report: English as US official language

Support

Mei-Yu Lu. “English-Only Movement: Its Consequences on the Education of Language Minority Children.” ERIC Digest. 1998: “When a school reinforces an English-Only policy, it sends a message to all children that minority languages have less value than English as tools of learning. And because the school is a microcosm of society, this message also suggests that those languages are not an integral part of the American society. This message equally deprives mainstream children of the opportunity to experience the cultural diversity in this country, and robs every child of the chance to learn the full potential of human possibilities (Heath, 1986). For these reasons, the English-Only movement should be carefully and critically reviewed in order to accord language diversity its due respect.”