Speech #970154476

Mr. President. the first responsibility of any immigrant is to learn the language of his new homeland. This is necessary for that resident to become a participating and contributing member of his new society. In Los Angeles. I am pleased to report that an extraordinary adult education school Is helping to accomplish this monumental task of educating nonEnglishspeaking immigrants. Ten thousand adult students flow through E. Manford Evans Community School each day to learn English. This school is an example of administrators. teachers. and a community who are willing to share the responsibility of indoctrinating immigrants to our language and culture. However. the tremendous enrollment and interest of the students in this school demonstrate an even more important principlethe desire of immigrants to learn English. Though more than half of the enrollment at Evans is Asian. its students span the globe. In one class 11 countries are represented. ranging from Cambodia to Columbia. But according to Mary Hurst. a teacher at Evans. the students have a common goal: "They want foremost to learn English. to speak and write it." Evans has a waiting list of 700 applicants which represent most of the recent immigrant groups. including those speaking Spanish and many Asian languages. As you know. I have introduced Senate Joint Resolution 72. a proposed constitutional amendment to make English the official language of the United States. If the interest at Evans and other adult language schools around the country is any indication. our newly arrived immigrants share my belief that English is the language of our country. and they had better get busy learning it so that they can become contributing members of our society. I hope my colleagues will take notice of this intense interest and awareness on the part of our immigrants of the need for a commonly spoken language in the United States. I commend E. Manford Evans Community Adult School in Los Angeles and other schools throughout the country which are meeting the language and socialization needs of our immigrants from around the world. I would like to call my colleagues attention to an article that appeared in the March 7. 1982. edition of the Los Angeles Herald Examiner. written by Annie Nakao. which describes the excellent work of Evans and other adult language schools in the Los Angeles area. I ask unanimous consent that the article be printed in the RECORD.