For this project we started off learning about what makes laws justified by studying people like Martin Luther King Jr. Afterwards we studied different moral philosophy such as, utilitarianism, libertarianism, deontology, and Rawls philosophy. We practiced applying these different philosophies to different situations and finding which one we identify with the most. For this project we had four parts, the first part we had to write our personal thoughts on the topic with our own experiences and previous knowledge to write and use a moral philosophy to explain our side as well. Then for parts two and three we had to write both sides of the argument, writing the disagree side and the agree side, both uses a moral philosophy for an argument in the essay. Part four was to make a visual piece that supports the side we ended up choosing at the end of writing parts two and three. For the visual piece we had to make sure involve two of aristotle's modes of persuasion: ethos, logos, and pathos.
Writing Growth
For my part three writing I changed one of my ethos arguments into a logos argument since I didn't have any logos arguments in part three. Though for all of the writings I did much better with sentence structure with having less run on sentences. My writing became more concise as I went through all the drafts for writing. Most of what I had to fix was the sentence structure which slowly became better. Then having concise writing was hard to correct through the drafts, but in the end I believe I made the writings more concise than before. Then the last thing I had to fix for part three was my hook, through the drafts I came out with a much stronger hook than in the beginning. Overall my writings really improved throughout the drafts.
Personal Growth and Perspective
The most complex part of this issue was, that if English was a requirement are there things that could exempt someone from having to learn it, and what would be the reasons. Also for the con side was if people didn't have to learn English if there should be accomodations by the governments and schools. For the pro side I came up with some exempts that are used in other countries that have their national language as a requirement and age, disabilities, and health were some of the factors that went in with exceptions. While for the other side I came up with that the government would have to accommodate those who did not speak English, but only the government. Though it was found that schools that taught in multiple languages had higher test scores overall.
Completing parts one through three did not change the way I see people that strongly disagree with me. Before this project I was already used to looking up both sides of an issues before I made a final decision on some topics. Understanding the opposite side of my own has always been important to me. For the reason of having meaningful discussions about the topic, instead of just having a fight over who's right and bashing each other in the end. Though sometimes I don't understand the other's point of view at all even after researching both sides, it is still a much more meaningful conversation than what it would be without knowing anything at all about the opposite opinion.
Part 1
Immigrants should not be forced to learn to learn English to be allowed in the United States. Though many of my friend’s parents who came from other countries may have known English they would almost never speak it. Even when others would only be English speaking in their household they would still only speak their native language, even to communicate to other people that did only speak English. Therefore even if the learned English they would not use it even in emergencies when there first instinct is to speak their native language. While living in Texas going to friends houses the language spoken in the household was almost never English. Even while in school there would be many conversations going around in different languages like Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese, Spanish and many more. It was a known fact too that most of their parents didn't know English. Despite many different languages going around in the hallways at school and out everyone did got along great. There was never any conflict with all the languages being spoken and for the most part it was cool to have to many cultures showing around you. Though learning English would be helpful to be successful in the United States, the U.S. does not have an official language. So just because English is the primary language used in the U.S. does not mean that immigrants should be required to learn it. Therefore the government should not interfere with what language people want to learn and use. It should be the person's issue if they are having trouble in the U.S. because they do not know English. Though when most people go to a new country with a different language they usually tend to be able to find someone from their country or move to a known community that is primarily where they are from. Requiring immigrants to learn English is infringing on their rights as a person. Though English is a helpful language, no country should force someone to learn a language if it is not the country's official language. Thourgh libertarian views they have the right to do what they want as long as they do not cause harm to other people. While requiring someone to learn another language also shows disrespect for someone's culture and where they come from. To treat everyone equally and with respect for their rights is what should be happening, and requiring people to learn a language that is not considered the nation's official language does not respect equality or their rights. Nor would the people who learn the language even really want to use such language they had to learn. Even if they were required to learn English it would not mean that they would suddenly start using English, just like my friends parents they would never use English. Also how much English would they have to learn to actually help them in real life? Just knowing basic English would not help them, so how long would they have to take classes to learn the amount of English that would be helpful to them. Even though they could be able to find people that speaks their language or they could always get a translators, so therefore it is not necessary to know English to be successful in the U.S. or to live well in the U.S.
Part 2
English should be required to learn for immigrants to become a citizen, for immigrants own benefit. Those who know English get a better jobs and income, causing them to be better off in the United States because they learned English. There is also a lot of immigrants who do not know English well or not at all causing everyday life to be hard, because they were not required to learn English. Learning English does not just benefit immigrants it also benefits the citizens of the U.S. as a whole to make a more unified country through English. Therefore immigrants should be required to learn English when they move to the United States. Jobs in the U.S. are much more accessible for those who know the English language. As said in a PBS interview by Ray Suarez with Professor Barbara Mujica and Max Sevilla, Sevilla says that it is shown “that when immigrants know English, they earn twice what people who don’t know English earn”. Since immigrants get better jobs from knowing English it will raises their income, because they can get higher paying jobs. This will help the economy as more people will be helping the United States by working and being able to pay taxes with a higher income. Though immigrants that do not know English can still gets jobs they would still be making much more for the community and for themself if they learn English. While learning English would not only help with jobs, it will also help with everyday life. English is everywhere in the U.S., thus to not know English would make everyday life very difficult for many reasons. One reason being that public transportation is predominantly in English, and it would be very hard to find out the right stops and to get tickets for the train. The next reason would be for bills that are in English that immigrants can not read is very difficult for them to pay bills on time and would make them find help, that could be difficult to find. Though there are many more reasons would be helpful in everyday life these are just a couple of the struggles people would have to go through. In a blog by J.N. Reyna, whose mother was an English teacher for adults at a night school, she stated that most of the people who were going to lessons were for not wanting to get lost on trains and buses and for paying bills that she could not read, and didn’t even know if they were her’s or not. While there were some that also wanted to start their own businesses and were learning English for that reason, but most wanted to learn English to help in everyday life. There was also a study in 1999 published in The Journal of Language and Social Psychology that demonstrates that people who did not speak proficient English would face housing discrimination. All in all learning English would help in everyday life and provide a lot for immigrants who moved to the U.S.Good job in this paragraph. English also unifies the United States and makes it become one county. There are too many immigrants that are socially isolated that splits our country into parts based on the languages we speak. While shown in the same PBS interview with Professor Barbara Mujica and Max Sevillia, Mujica provides the information that 8.1 percent of the foreign-born residents who say that they know no English at all and 51 percent of them say that they don’t know English very well. Then CNN presented information from the Census Bureau that said nearly 5 million native-born Americans have limited English proficiency, and another 20 million foreign-born U.S. residents, which is half of the U.S. immigrants, can’t speak English very well. This split in language is causing a divide in the U.S. because immigrants are not required to learn English and segregates immigrants, which in turn resentment boils up against the growing people who are non-English-speaking. Therefore requiring English would unify the United States and make it whole over a common language. In conclusion having English be a requirement for immigrants would help everyone in the United States.Knowing English helps with jobs and income in the United States for immigrants. English also helps in everyday life with transportation, bill, and getting a house in the United States as well. Then lastly everyone in the United States knowing English would unify the country instead of divide it based on language. With all these effects that would happen with English being required for immigrants to learn, utilitarianism would also say it is right for English to be required as it will cause more happiness throughout the nation than it would cause pain. Therefore learning English would be for the best for immigrants coming into the United States.
Part 3
“The society that puts equality before freedom will end up with neither. The society that puts freedom before equality will end up with a great measure of both”(Friedman). Immigrants should not be required to learn English, the United states has no official language, students do better in school with their native language, and it is against immigrants freedoms. Having English would also raise many questions on how much English should one know, or how long something need to take a English class? In the end it would just be better for many if the government to accommodate everybody for the language they speak.
While most people believe that the United States official language is English, this is not the case. English is the predominantly spoken language in the U.S. but it has failed to become the official language. Most immigrants already know it would be best to learn English and don’t need to be motivated by the government. According to Paul Waldman in “Why ‘Make Them Learn English’ Is the Key to Immigration Reform”, all immigrant families eventually learn English, though the parents don’t always end up learning the language their kids learn. As Waldman writes “...that’s how it’s working for the current group of immigrants”. Really the government does not need to require immigrants to learn English when they or their family will learn English eventually.
Accommodating students in school for their language would by providing lessons in their native tongue would help all students in the long run of education. In the article “The Cost of English-Only Education” by Melinda Anderson states that “Research shows two-language instruction is linked to numerous positive and long-term benefits, including stronger literacy skills, narrowing of achievement gaps, and higher graduation rates." this will help many immigrants students, instead of making them learn English. While this does help bilingual students it also helps only English speaking students as shown in “a Michigan State University study of Texas elementary students in 2013…[show] higher math and reading scores—for children from English-only homes who were enrolled in schools with bilingual education programs.” Having bilingual schools that help and accommodate immigrants will not only help them but also English speaking students. With the benefit for the classes being in immigrant's native language why should we require English if the benefit is so much better for the school to accommodate them?
Immigrants should have the freedom to learn English or not for it is their right. Based on libertarian views it is against an immigrant's freedom to take away their right to learn whatever language they want to learn. Everyone is equal and be able to do what they want as long as it does not harm anyone else, as Amy Smith argues “... what we should demand is that the government accommodate speakers of all languages”(Smith). Having accommodation for each language would give everyone a fair chance in the U.S. and create equality.. Immigrants are not harming anyone from not knowing English, and it is completely in the rights of the immigrant to learn English or not.
With the benefits in school and the freedom of immigrants, with the fact that the United States does not have an official language. English should not be required for immigrants to learn. The government can’t apply a law if the government itself does not declare English the official language. Also it benefits students to be in a bilingual environment for learning. Overall it is just against immigrants freedoms to be forced to learn a language. With all these reason the United States should not make immigrants learn English.