Friday, June 28, 2002
"Flying the Saudi Flag"
A New York City salutatorian wanted to give her graduation speech solely in Spanish. National Review columnist John Derbyshire, who spotted this on his local television news, explained today exactly what the problem is with this sort of linguistic political correctness:
This is a free country, and citizens are free to speak, study, give speeches in any language they please, so far as their private exchanges and associations are concerned. A public school, however, is public. It serves, and is paid for by, citizens in their capacity as citizens, not as private agents. In all its doings, therefore, a public school should cleave strictly to the common denominators that define citizenship: the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the nation's flag, the nation's language. For a public school to authorize a graduation speech in Spanish is equivalent to it flying the Saudi flag. As a private citizen, you can fly the Saudi flag if you feel like
it; but this nation, in its public affairs, only knows one flag, and one language. If you don't like that, don't send your kids to public school.
There is one other problem with a Spanish-only speech delivered to an English speaking audience: communication is lost. The speech giver can preen in her political correctness. What will most of her audience remember of the substance of her talk?
Derbyshire adds that "the next night, looking mighty pleased with themselves, [the local FOX station] invited the moronic brat on to deliver her speech, in Spanish, to the Fox audience. The presenters fairly glowed with multicultural virtue."
You can e-mail this particular FOX station, WNYW here. English First will be asking for FOX's side of the story, too. "We report. You decide."
|posted by Jim on 8:51 PM|
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