3 They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. 6 The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”
8 So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city.
This bears relevance to a tweet from a prominent far-right blogger and a statement by the governor of Minnesota.
In newly unearthed video, Tim Walz BRAGS about overwhelming small-town America with migrants:
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) October 1, 2024
"We have more refugees per capita than any other state. That's not just morally a good thing, it's our economic and cultural future.
"This beautiful diversity we see out in… pic.twitter.com/oRwpr8KPs3
Acceptance of a huge number of immigrants is a moral good. It probably will prove to be a significant part of Minnesota's cultural future. And it will be a part of the state's economic future, although I'm guessing whites, Asian-American and Pacific Islanders, Latinos, generational African-Americans and other blacks, and possibly even tribal individuals also will be contribute to Minnesota's future.
Nonetheless, fifty languages being spoken in the school is nothing to brag about, merely a reality which must be addressed. It will be a very costly reality, whether that cost is borne by the federal government, state government, or local taxpayers. Failing to support (even assist) them in an effort to become fluent in English is necessary if they are to participate in all respects -"holistically," as Kamala Harris probably would put it- in our nation's culture. It's also critical in order to engage in- again, as Harris would term it- an "opportunity economy." In short, to become Americans.
Schools- public, non-charter- play a major role in that. Ian Bremmer on Friday's Overtime segment of Real Time with Bill Maher, responded to survey data indicating that young men are now more religious than young women. He noted (at 2:02)
I mean in the sense that it's just one more sign of society atomizing, you know- not as much time with families, not as much belief in church. You know, more people going to private schools as opposed to more in public. That's something I worry about generally.
When God wanted to destroy the dreams of the Babylonians, he confused their language, which disrupted their work and made it impossible for them to communicate with each other. No longer able to have a stable society with a common language, they scattered to the ends of earth. Therein is a message we should embrace. Now atomized, the Babylonians had become mere individuals with no sense of community.
Approving and encouraging the American mosaic does not require turning a blind eye to the immense problems we will increasingly encounter, especially in schools, with a multiplicity of languages commonly and routinely spoken. The value of diversity must not lend itself to glorifying the babble of languages spoken in schools which, while at this moment unavoidable, is an obstacle to promoting academic achievement.
The likes of Charlie Kirk and Donald Trump, unconcerned with aiding immigrants and hostile to diversity generally, will not fully understand that. Yet it's something that much of the American left, including vice-presidential hopeful Tim Walz, should grasp but are disregarding or have lost sight of.
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