Foreign language required from age seven in UK
This UK decision strikes me as a good idea:
I don't particularly care what language -- French, German, Mandarin, Spanish, whatever. But, once started, I think kids should be forced to stick with it till they are reasonably fluent. There is probably no better way (other than actually moving there) to gain an understanding of another culture (and other cultures in general) than learning its language. Each culture builds its assumptions about life into its language. Words in one language have entirely different connotations and associations than their counterparts in other languages. Learning a foreign language helps people gain an understanding that broadens their horizons.
Unfortunately, we Americans have little need to learn foreign languages because English is spoken to one degree or another virtually everywhere. Furthermore, most Americans are unlikely to interact with foreign language speakers on a regular basis in a setting where the foreign language dominates. Partly as a consequence, we have one of the most closed-minded, parochial and sometimes bigoted populations in the world (Russia may be a close second, for many of the same reasons). The "not invented here" syndrome is rampant. How many times, for example, have you heard of America adopting a technology developed elsewhere? Even when technologies are well developed in Europe, for example, we have to re-invent them before they become accepted here. It's utterly idiotic.
Of course, it's not going to happen. Most schools are dropping whatever foreign language programs they once had for lack of student interest.
Maybe the movie Idiocracy was on to something.
Lessons in a foreign language will become compulsory for children as young as seven under Government plans announced today.
The Education Secretary Alan Johnson backed recommendations for an overhaul in the way French, German and other subjects are taught in primary and secondary schools.
The decision to teach languages to all seven-year-olds in England is aimed at reversing the severe decline in the numbers of teenagers taking German and French at GCSE in the past two years.
I don't particularly care what language -- French, German, Mandarin, Spanish, whatever. But, once started, I think kids should be forced to stick with it till they are reasonably fluent. There is probably no better way (other than actually moving there) to gain an understanding of another culture (and other cultures in general) than learning its language. Each culture builds its assumptions about life into its language. Words in one language have entirely different connotations and associations than their counterparts in other languages. Learning a foreign language helps people gain an understanding that broadens their horizons.
Unfortunately, we Americans have little need to learn foreign languages because English is spoken to one degree or another virtually everywhere. Furthermore, most Americans are unlikely to interact with foreign language speakers on a regular basis in a setting where the foreign language dominates. Partly as a consequence, we have one of the most closed-minded, parochial and sometimes bigoted populations in the world (Russia may be a close second, for many of the same reasons). The "not invented here" syndrome is rampant. How many times, for example, have you heard of America adopting a technology developed elsewhere? Even when technologies are well developed in Europe, for example, we have to re-invent them before they become accepted here. It's utterly idiotic.
Of course, it's not going to happen. Most schools are dropping whatever foreign language programs they once had for lack of student interest.
Maybe the movie Idiocracy was on to something.
posted by walldon | 4:48 PM
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