This letter is in response to the public service advertisement on the diversity of Hispanics in the United States. In my opinion, the inset "Letter to the Editor" (The Daily Collegian, Jan. 29) made proponents of the preservation of English in America appear overtly ethnocentric and close-minded, which is not always the case. Those who feel that "everyone should speak English" are not entirely justified. What should be said is that "everyone in the United States should have the ability to function effectively in America's English-speaking society." Native languages -- Chinese, Spanish, Polish, Arabic, whatever -- should be preserved in the home, in churches, and among friends.

Continued use of one's native language in one's personal life helps preserve one's native culture; however, emigrating from one's native land implies that some cultural elements will be sacrificed. When my mother's grandparents came to the United States from Eastern Europe in the late 19th Century, part of their old culture had to be given up in order for their children to become "American," those children had to learn and use English. In my example here, a sacrifice was made, but an old culture was not abandoned.

Even now, nearly a century later, my hometown church offers masses in Polish, my grandparents occasionally speak Polish, and the "ethnic" food is still there. A substantial portion of the "native" culture is still appreciated, but my family's knowledge and use of English makes us completely functional citizens - my grandparents, my mother, my brother, my cousins and I are all Americans. My point here is that assimilation, which uses English as a vital tool, is the goal - not homogenization. Attempts at homogenization, especially in multilingual nations, do not work (e.g. Quebec, Belgium, Armenia, Sri Lanka.) English historically is the common language of the United States. English as a "glue" serves to unite the United States, bi-or multi-lingualism will only fragment it.