Analysis Of Jake Jamieson's The English-Only Movement

Jake Jamieson wrote “The English-Only Movement” while he was a student at the University of Vermont. In this essay he discusses the issue of legislating English as the official language in the United States. He strongly beliefs that the government should not fix an issue that is not broken. Throughout his writing he uses outside resources that support the idea of English-only; even though he was trying to explain the differences about both side it seems like he is being bias at first. Jamieson could have made his paper stronger if he would have stated what he believed instead of saying others believe; although his arguments are based on people’s rights and emotions towards being obligated to speak English in America his argument contains evidence and communication abilities to get his point across. His writing

Also he says, “There is no agreement on what exactly constitutes the ‘American way’ of doing things” (262). His question is then if we don’t have an official culture or religion then why should there be an official language. In my opinion this is a strong point because the reason why this country was built, was on the freedom of speech. People travel to America to establish a new government, a new life away from ruling. If this act is establish in America, Jamieson states, “Will we show the world that we believe in these things only when they pertain to ourselves and people like us?” (265). by this Jamieson is saying that only people that know the language will be able to apply the first amendment. He says that the majority of people in the USA already speak English and by making it the official language is not going to change the unity of this country, which people that believe in the English-only act believe it will make a change. The only thing that the English-only act will cause is fear instead of