English press 1 ~ Spanish press 2

This is food for thought and I wanted to see all the different opinions out there.  We all know why there is an emphasis on learning to speak Spanish.  The Spanish/Hispanic population, illegal or legal is growing by leaps and bounds. It seems as if Spanish is spoken at every fast food location, landscaping business, cleaning services etc.  By no means am I trying to profile this ethnic group but it is a fact that the socio-economic makeup of this ethnic group attracts these types of jobs. Things are changing and hopefully this will not remain stereotypical. We have a communication problem. We cannot understand one another it has gotten to the point that when using ATM’s and telephones you are asked whether you want to use Spanish or English. Experts say the answer to the communication problem is education and I agree. I also feel education is the answer to most any problem.  In my community, there is a move to provide bilingual education and this maybe the answer to bridging the communication gap. However, one concern by many is why are English speaking Americans learning Spanish?  The illiteracy rate in this country is staggering and many feel that learning English is more important than learning Spanish.  I have learned from a source, a Spanish teacher that if you were to move to a Spanish speaking country and enter their education system you would not be offered a bilingual program.  Another concern by many is if you speak Spanish and you come to this country why not learn English and why should Americans learn Spanish?

What do you think?