Second place is the first loser. While this axiom may seem harsh, it conveys the underlying principle that Cornell students, along with aspiring professionals nationwide, work to be the best.

It is no surprise that this mindset materializes in superior education. Our competitive academic culture advocates and glorifies competition such that it engulfs and absorbs one’s lifestyle and actions. The result is an intense race of unyielding ambitions, which fosters students’ appetites for knowledge. This pursuit for knowledge, progress and improvement is interminable if one aspires to obtain, and then maintain, supremacy in one’s social standing and professional career.

While this philosophy may seem cut-throat, consider America’s champions. Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Roosevelt, as well as civil rights activists Martin Luther King and Malcolm X are all worshiped for reaching the pinnacle of their respective fields. The facts are nobody celebrates, nor remembers, second place. Does anybody know George McClellan? How about Alfred Landon? Both were defeated presidential candidates who, at one point, dominated American media. Their inability to usurp the incumbent, however, quickly extinguished their popularity, thus cementing their impact as nothing more than ephemeral figures in American history.

It is this idealist celebration of supremacy and power that has made America so prosperous. The continual desire to accomplish more, to outperform and to outwork the next man has generated a hard-working, stubborn and relentlessly productive and innovative workforce.

The ideals espoused from this philosophy, however, have come under serious attack in recent decades. A society once driven by meritocracy and self-determination to pursue the American Dream of equal opportunity has become perverted by ideals of entitlement and mediocrity. This is especially evident in the lower working classes of America today. Whereas previous generations of Italian, Polish and German immigrants were able to work hard, adapt and persevere in America, immigrant groups who have recently come to the U.S. have found it more difficult to emerge from the suffocating conditions of poverty and advance in society, despite working hard.

The disturbing issue is, that these people are not culpable for their inability to escape the lifestyle they have been stuck in for years. The American government is largely responsible for this problem. Whereas, in the past, immigrants were forced to assimilate into American society, today foreigners no longer have a need to, which actually puts them at a disadvantage. Without having to fully adapt, many immigrants are simply getting by without achieving their full potential.

One clear example of this problem is visible through language analysis. For centuries foreigners wishing to establish themselves and become successful in America have learned the pervasive, though not official, English language. Single mothers, families of eight and welfare-ridden children have all worked the extra hour to master a vehicle that could provide them with the opportunity to elevate themselves as high as they desired: English proficiency.

Today, some Hispanic immigrants (for sake of argument and illustration purposes, I refer to a small, yet legitimate portion of this population) are struggling with English fluency. Because some have not mastered the language, they face limited employment opportunities and glass ceilings within their professions, social class and lives.

While a lack of English fluency impedes the adult immigrant’s progress, the development and advancement of the youth generation is most disturbing. Secondary public education, in an effort to help Hispanic children adapt, offer bilingual curricula —where all courses are taught in Spanish, with intermittent English along with specific English Second Language courses. Allowing children to learn in their native Spanish language downplays the importance of language proficiency and installs a lack of urgency, desire and basal need to learn an additional language.

As a result, a new generation matures and enters the workforce quasi-bilingual at best. Unable to communicate professionally to a large sector of the English population, some minorities are stuck in low-paying jobs that afford little more than poverty.

For a large part, however, these immigrants are not to blame. Government, while under the guise of incorporating and accepting their culture, has made it clear that a mastery of English not be necessary to survive. Businesses now advertise in both English and Spanish, and many products’ labels have instructions in both dialects. While this seems like a helpful convenience for immigrants, it deletes the necessity to master the English language.

While Newt Gingrich is taking heat for his recent remark that equated bilingual education to the language of ghettos, there is, to a certain extent, validity to his comment. The bilingual curriculum is consistently failing to linguistically educate rising generations. This preponderance of ignorance has led to Hispanic families sufficing to low paying jobs and lower living standards.

Solutions to this problem are many. Some suggest total immersion of Hispanic students into the English language, while others offer a renovation of the bilingual curriculum.

The non-debatable, larger argument is this: government needs to remove the training wheels that allow immigrants to survive, rather than to succeed. If Hispanics, like the Irish, Polish and German, were not able to “get by” knowing minimal English, they would inevitably prioritize their efforts and master the language.

When faced with the ultimatum of learning a language for survival, people will respond to the challenge and succeed. Earlier immigrants did so and many have experienced the American Dream by ascending to the highest positions America has to offer. Government and society must stop lowering expectations and performance standards for immigrants. Standards for measurement must remain consistent and steadfast. When this happens, more will experience success, which will encourage others to do the same.

Carl Menzel is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences. He can be contacted at cdm38@cornell.edu. Southern Style appears alternate Wednesdays.