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They didn't teach my German immigrant ancestors in German -- only in English. And they turned out just fine. And what's more, they immigrated LEGALLY to this country, didn't believe they were "entitled" to taxpayer-subsidized German instruction, didn't expect special privileges and didn't demand handouts. Wonder why?

They didn't teach my German immigrant ancestors in German -- only in English.

They haven't been here long, then. Entire communities in North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Texas were established where German was the language used every day, including in the schools.

In fact, it was so typical that in the 1740s Ben Franklin complained about the Germans who came here but wouldn't assimilate, predicting that it would lead to the destruction of society, yaddayadda.

Because when your immigrant ancestors came to the U.S., they hadn't been told that the reason they were poor was because of the U.S., and they expected that they'd have to learn the language and get a job if they were to survive.

Having said that, plenty of illegal aliens come in to the U.S. to work. Go on a business trip. Stay in a hotel, look out the windows of the business you're meeting at in the morning and watch the guys doing the outdoor maintenance, have lunch at McDonalds (I love trying to make myself understood through the speaker in the drive-in lane), have dinner in any decent restaurant and peek in the kitchen, and you'll be surrounded by illegal aliens doing all the jobs that "Americans won't do". They're working.

However, they didn't cross an ocean. They want to be able to go back and forth from their own country to the U.S., taking advantage of the U.S. while still remaining tied to Mexico, et. al. They haven't cut the cord and committed themselves to considering the U.S.A. as their country, to be supported and defended. This is what makes them, and their actions, different from your ancestors and their actions.

They didn't teach my German immigrant ancestors in German -- only in English. And they turned out just fine. And what's more, they immigrated LEGALLY to this country, didn't believe they were "entitled" to taxpayer-subsidized German instruction, didn't expect special privileges and didn't demand handouts. Wonder why

I don't have to go back to immigrant ancestors. My dad and his two brothers were the first children in the family to be born in the USA. They could understand my grandmother when she spoke Italian, but none of them spoke any Italian. They lived amongst Italians, yet all the Italians thought it was important to speak English.

And this was the FIRST generation.

Needless to say, he, his two brothers, all of their kids and all of their kids are quite successful.

All this in less than 100 years.