Dont Make English Offical Ban It Instead

Heather Schmitt English 1010 Mrs. Zeleznik 2 December 2012 “Don’t Make English Official – Ban It Instead” The article “Don’t Make English Official – Ban It Instead” by Dennis Baron focuses on the idea of Congress considering to make English the “official language” of the United States. Baron uses the academic approach in portraying English as a tradition, a functional system of codes that enables people to interact with each other in the society. Using this as his primary thesis, Baron argues that English should not be implemented as the country’s national language, since “it’s hardly even English anymore. They clearly state in the article that even though English isn’t the official language non-English-speaking immigrants are still picking up. Many people in America want English to be the official language that everyone should speak. I do not completely agree with this. It would be too difficult for everyone to follow this request. Also, many people learn two different languages, which ultimately increases their knowledge. Dennis Baron’s idea is that banning English would have the opposite of effect, that people that speak English would still continue to speak English and those who do not yet speak it will be more tempted to try it out.

If we were to ban the English language then people would be more eager to learn it because people want what they cannot have. I personally find the idea of this humorous in a way. It’s relating it to a bigger theme or main idea that it is almost human nature to try or do the things we are not suppose to do. Not that Congress would ever ban the English language or really any language in general, I think this piece is really aiming towards the idea of human nature rather than actually wanting to ban the English language.