"In Plain English" (#150, Topic L)

I generally skip reading columns by Charles Krauthammer in the Washington Post . Last evening, after reading everything I brought with me while waiting for a 6 pm meeting in DC, I was left with nothing but the back-inside-cover essay of the 6/12/06 issue of Time, which is by Krauthammer. Thinking that the topic (with caption shown as the title to this entry) is on culture rather than on politics, I decided to read it (after all, I did read William Safire, on English, in New York Times for a long time). "Growing up (as I did)," the essay began. I have a very bad habit of jumping to conclusions while reading -- and, as soon as I read these five words, I stopped and said to myself: Is there an option for not growing up? I read on; the next five words are: "in the province of Quebec." Now I understand: the issue is not physical (whether growing up or not growing up) but cultural (growing up in French-speaking Quebec rather than in English-speaking provinces). This being so, I felt that the first 10 words would make better sense, at least to me, were they rearranged to the following sequence: "Growing up in the province of Quebec (as I did)". The essay's 3rd paragraph begins with the following 37-word sentence: "One of the major reasons for America's great success as the world's first 'universal nation,' for its astonishing and unmatched capacity for assimilating immigrants, has been that an automatic part of acculturation was the acquisition of English." After reading it dozens of times, I must confess that I did not get it. Let us set aside the "first 'universal nation'" argument, which is, to me, unfounded; let me also concede that USA has an "astonishing and unmatched capacity for assimilating immigrants," though "accommodating" would be more descriptive than "assimilating." Regardless, I at least understood what the essayist has in mind. But what is meant by "an automatic part of acculturation was the acquisition of English"? I don't get it. And this is said to be "In Plain English"!!!