Last Wednesday, June 7, 2006, President Bush signed Executive Order 13404 authorizing a Task Force on New Americans.

The order calls for the creation of a body, chaired by the Secretary of Homeland Security and comprised of the following members: the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Defense, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and the Secretary of Education. Its purpose is to "help legal immigrants embrace the common core of American civic culture, learn our common language, and fully become Americans."

The focus of this drive to indoctrinate new Americans is mastery of the English language. This is apparently now a national security issue.

I disagree. The issue that endangers our national security is that most old Americans only know one language. The majority of our citizens are crippled in international markets, lack the skill to navigate basic social interactions in foreign languages, and have no concept of what this "globalization thing" really means for them as individuals. Our relative xenophobia is finally coming home to roost.

The world is at our doorstep. As increasingly complex global markets emerge every day our fate as economic prisoners of our own ignorance only becomes more clear. To avert this fate our President has effectively mandated a national language with this executive order following a less than decisive debate in Congress regarding the same issue last month.

Mandatory English lessons for immigrants is the wrong way to ensure all Americans recognize common core values and experience shared cultural identities. If the goal is to create a strong, cohesive nation then mandatory foreign language training for all Americans in our public schools along with English as a second language (ESL) for immigrants is the solution.

The war against American xenophobia in this age of globalization is a generational war. It will take time. But, if our nation is to survive globalization, then we must all first become global citizens.

Labels: economy, Executive Order 13404, Immigration, national language