Posted on 11/21/2005 4:10:37 PM PST by Westlander
BROOKLINE, Mass., Nov. 21, 2005 — At the Driscoll public schools in Brookline, Mass., the kindergartners already know more Chinese than most Americans will learn in a lifetime.
The second graders can string sentences together, and the eighth graders are nearly fluent. In this school system, learning Mandarin is mandatory.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Thank a Liberal. They seem to think we'll all be more "worldly" if we abandon English for "Ebonics" (sic) and Spanish.
But have a heart, they'll know Spanish. They'll have to if they want to own a business, get a job in government, or live in the southern half of the United States.
Southern half? LOL, you need to read more.
Just ribbing you, but the cities up north are changing as well.
Is this an indication of why "we" must encourage our Congress to pass a bill (or amendment) making ENGLISH the official language in the USA?
Remember when scientists used German as 'the language of science'? So now, they use English.
Everywhere except in the USA.
It's one thing if you're living overseas or have an international marriage, but if both parents have no relation to the foreign language being learned by the kids, what's the point - bragging rights for mom and dad?
i can certainly see knowing chinese being useful in more ways than one. First is communications intercepts. We both know that the chicomms are going to be our next big enemies, having people who can speak their language would be very helpful. Second of course is business. There are a billion on the mainland and millions more in the chinese diaspora. I'm thinking of learning chinese as well.
chinese eubonics will be awesome cant wait for the rap version
On an individual level, if you have particular goals in mind, learning a foreign language is a great idea. But this story sounds more like a fad/trend - every decade brings a new "language of the future." In the '80s it was Japanese as many feared they'd buy up all of America, in the '90s it was Spanish as the country seemed to finally wake up to the (illegal) immigrant subculture, and now it's Chinese.
Or the third possibility is that the kids need to learn Chinese so they communicate with their masters. Will up their chances of survival.
Typical paranoic response to economic change. In the 1980s parents made their children learn Japanese.
While I was too young to know if a similar thing happened in the 1970s, I'd bet that there were more than a few Arabic schools set up for children to learn the new economic masters of oil wealth.
Indian will be next.
To be fair, nothing is as effective at improving the mastery of English grammar and structure as teaching a second language, regardless of whatever that language is. It gives the kids a framework to compare English too and they analyse it consciously and unconsciously a great deal more.
LOL, back in the 80's I started diligently studying Japanese, but I had other motivations. I liked Japanese girls.
Shimashitakedo okusan ga eigo ga jouzu ni narimashitakara takusan Nihongo wo wasuremashita.
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