Gwinnett County (GA) Should Stop the Pandering and Start the Teaching of English

WASHINGTON D.C. – U.S. ENGLISH, Inc., the nation’s oldest and largest citizens action group dedicated to preserving the unifying role of the English language in the United States, today condemned the decision of the Gwinnett County (GA) school system to hire three translators for “select” languages as unfair, shortsighted and counterproductive.

Next year, the Gwinnett school system will provide its own staff translators for students who speak Spanish, Korean and Vietnamese. The school board approved $138,000 for the new translators despite a tight budget year. Donna Robertson, a principal at an elementary school in the county, claimed the translators are only a short term solution. The real solution, she claims, is a multilingual school staff.

U.S. ENGLISH, Inc. believes this is a shortsighted idea for many reasons. First, catering to new immigrants in their native language takes away an important incentive for immigrants to learn English, the language they will need to succeed in America. Second, it gives preferences to certain groups. Gwinnett County is home to students who speak 46 languages. There are 831 students who speak Chinese, 480 who speak Urdu, 479 who speak Serbo-Croatian, 432 who speak Gujarati, and 378 who speak Hindi. Why aren’t these groups getting staff translators? Third, at a time of budget constraints, it takes much needed funds away from other Gwinnett students.

“Taxpayers of Gwinnett County have a right to question this decision by their school system,” said Mauro E. Mujica, Chairman of U.S. ENGLISH, Inc. “All children – especially immigrants – need to learn English in order to succeed in life. This decision sends a message that it is not necessary for immigrants to learn English and that some ethnic groups are more equal than others. If they want to help immigrants and ensure unity, the Gwinnett school system should use this money to provide more English language instruction rather than spend it on translators for select groups of students.”

U.S. English, Inc. is the nation's oldest and largest non-partisan citizens' action group dedicated to preserving the unifying role of the English language in the United States. Founded in 1983 by the late Sen. S.I. Hayakawa of California, U.S. English, Inc. (www.usenglish.org) now has more than 1.8 million members.