I completely agree with you, which is the point of the article. There are people who get angry when they hear another language being spoken or when holidays are celebrated that are not “American.” Living on the border, we celebrate Mexican and American holidays. Cinco de mayo, dieciseis de septiembre, el dia de los muertos, quinceanera, etc. That irritates some people. As a former educator, I heard people complain about bilingual education, because they believed we shouldn’t cater to kids who didn’t speak English.

Assimilation to me and definitely in education, is to change to a new way of doing things and leave the past culture, language, etc. behind, and I think that’s a mistake. People can have both, which sounds like what your relatives did. Good for them!