State Department and Citizenship

To begin my reflection for this past week, I would like to begin with our trip to the State Department. I am very grateful that we were able to visit because, truthfully, I was not sure what the State Department's function is, and I did not know which countries are considered Southern and Central Asia! I thought that the two men who spoke with us gave very interesting perspectives and were very passionate about their jobs. Although it might not be for all of us, the trip definetely opened up another option for me as something that I have thought of for a career, but wasn't sure how to get there. I believe that the most important part of international relations, the subject that each of us is studying, is to LIVE ABROAD and in doing that, learn another language and actually live in another culture, because that is what truly can change your perspective about your country and the rest of the world.

As for the discussion from Friday, I have a few questions. If people believe that everyone should take a test including English writing upon entering the United States, is this only for citizenship or also for permanent residents?? Because of the demographics of the country in which we live, it is actually not necessary to speak English. I work in a restaurant where half of the staff speaks only Spanish, and although at times it is difficult to communicate to the non-Spanish speakers, they have their own community of Latinos and English seems to not be a necessity. My question would be, why is English necessary if we do not have a national language in the United States?? And is it truly something that we should be testing immigrants on?

As for the citizenship test, I believe that if Americans cannot answer the questions on the test, it is our education system that is failing. It is our responsibility to be learning and to know that which we require new immigrants to know. At work last night, a cook from El Salvador began talking to me, asking me where I live and what I study. He said that his son lives in El Salvador and wanted to study international relations, but because of corruption in the state and other problems, it is not a good career there. He began describing the laws to me and then said "Los Estados Unidos no es asi. Tu puedes hacer lo que quieres y lo que dice la ley es la ley y no hay cuestiones.' (The United States is not like this. You can do what you want and what the law says is THE LAW and there are no questions.) Most people come to the US because of our system, whether it is because of democracy or not, in order to live a more free life from theirs at home. They already know these ideals about America.