Should the U.S. have a language authority or even a national language?

Thesis: The United States does not have the authority to force its inhabitants to adopt one specific language or language type.

“There has never been a successful academy to govern the English language, either in Britain or in the United States, although it has certainly been suggested.” (Curzan, 34).

-This quote supports the idea that the U.S. just cannot have a language authority. I plan to use the quote to support my assertion about the inability to have an authority in the U.S. partially because it has never worked in the past.

“Students at federal boarding schools were forbidden to express their culture—everything from wearing long hair to speaking even a single Indian word.” (“American Indian Boarding Schools Haunt Many,” Para 13).

-The statement in this quote could be used as a ‘shocker’ element to show just how terrible the Native Americans were being treated. I could use this to make the point that Americans have attempted to force their culture on people in the past.

“It follows that no language or dialect is superior to any other and that models of verbal communication cannot be ranked according to complexity, expressiveness, or any other virtue.” (Dalrymple, Para 18).

-I would use this quote as a straightforward reason for why the U.S. should not force a particular language on people. This blatantly says that all languages are equal, and if all are equal then there is no reason to mandate the use of one specific language.