Posted on 01/29/2006 4:43:03 PM PST by Dick Bachert
Just caught a network news segment on how the Chicago government schools – at the alleged urging of parents – are teaching kids there CHINESE, a language having 3 gazillion unique GRAPHIC – as opposed to our 26 alphabetical – characters and 4 or so basic SOUNDS!
They claim they’re doing this so our kids can COMPETE with the Chinese – most of whom are busy learning a much easier language: ENGLISH!!
I think teaching American kids Chinese is wonderful. These kids will then be able to explain why they are ignorant of biology, physics, math, basic science, etc. – IN CHINESE because their local educrats stole time from THOSE vital skills necessary for us to compete with the Europeans and the Chinese – to teach them CHINESE!
Dude, are you sure about this?
LAtin is pratically a dead language. Actually it is rarely spoken except for corporate mottos.
What a looney article. SOME Chicago kids are learning Chinese just as SOME are learning Spanish and French and German and Italian and Russian.
While the clueless probably are unaware of it the fact is that those kids who are studying Physics, Calculus, Chemistry are EXACTLY the same kids learning Chinese. Many schools require a foreign language.
When I took Spanish decades ago do you think I did not ALSO take Advanced Chemistry, Advanced Math and Physics?
Don't throw facts in the face of raging crackpotism.
No it is not. The only difference is that the word YOU/HE/She, etc. would have different characters for female/male/it. They have the same pronounciation, but different written word for each.
What's going to screw everyone is the fact that the same pronounciation have many different characters, and combination of them gives different meanings. Also, most Chinese words or phrases are based on history or some sort of "story" that occured in the past, and unless you know them, you'd be completely clueless as to its meaning.
As far as conversational Chinese goes, it's pretty easy to learn. As far as understanding written Chinese language or rather, Chinese literature, it's probably amongst the most difficult. What's "spoken" today, is vastly different than what is spoken 2000 years ago. What takes 4 characters to express in today's Chinese woudl take just 1 in ancient Chinese literature, which makes it a lot more difficult to understand because in that case, every character do have a meaning, as well as combination of those characters.
At least Chinese use their own language, instead of slaughtering up English like the Indans do :P
Brava! (that's not Chinese, of course!) : ) DOE
They must've taught you Sun-Tzu in grade school...;-)
Well, I learned French back in the day. Little did I know I'd better understand an enemy 25 years later ;-)
It's not insane to want them to learn another language. Granted, Chinese might be a bit much - but I know if it were me, I would love the opportunity.
And English isn't neccesarily easier - I've known it all my life, but I still have trouble with it.. but what scares me, sometimes, is that I have a better grasp of it than people two times my age. Or that are my own age. (You'd think that since those self-same people my age are normally public-schooled, I, as a homeschooler who rarely actually studies, would actually be worse off. I have friends older than me who spell and punctuate like they are still in grade-school, so..)
Most people who speak English as a native language view any other language as "hard/impossible to learn" or "barbaric" (though you don't see "barbaric" much these days!), and yes, it will be hard - especially for Mid-/Far Eastern languages, because those are written with symbols.. and read from right-to-left (top-to-bottom is traditional for Chinese, and Japanese) as a rule. But if you put your mind to it, it can be done.
And who knows, maybe those children will find that they LIKE learning Chinese! (I, personally, think it's a beautiful language. Of course, I'm a language nut, and have a list a mile long of languages I wish to learn. Japanese (Nihongo) is my focus, though!) And as other people have pointed out, it could help them with their English. Or learning in general.
~Moshi-chan
Moshi,
Please understand that my objection to the Chicago program is NOT because I'm some ethnocentric bigot.
My problem with the government schools is that the NEA and other socialist groups have forced a utopian-leftist agenda on them with the goal of blending us all together, erasing national borders and destroying any vestiges of national sovereignty. The very much alive "One World" thing. To do that, the populations of the world must be "homogenized" and/or "dumbed down." While these kids get values clarification and PC oriented courses in "self-esteem building," the traditional three Rs (reading, writing and arithmetic) are very often neglected.
The point I attempted to make in that first post is that if America is to compete in -- and win the inevitable WARS (and, yes, there will be wars) --in the world of tomorrow, we'd damn well better be teaching these kids the hard, technical skills they'll need in that environment.
As I remarked to General John Singlaub in a radio interview I did with him way back in 1985, I have this nightmare vision of service-economy reared American troops hurling McDonald hamburgers, computer discs and plastic serving trays at the STEEL tanks of some as yet unknown enemy as they roll down the streets of this country. He told me he has the same nightmare. And while most individual Chinese citizens are probably decent folks, their current regime is corrupt to the core. The way things are going, those tanks MAY be Chinese.
Maybe one of the first phrases these kids in Chicago should learn is "We surrender."
You make some good points here, and I will discuss this issue with Moshi later today. She is still young enough to see the world through young and hopeful eyes even though she is fairly conservative. That is good in many ways but not very realistic. It is time for her to learn more about this subject and your post will be a good starting point for her.
Thanks for being kind and explaining your position so clearly.
Hm. I see where you're coming from.. And I'm sorry if I sounded like I was hounding on you - it was late (after midnight) when I wrote that. Ah well.
You make a very good point - I think I judge public schools a lot by my own learning experiences and dreams.. which isn't always the best thing to do!
Thanks for making it more clear.. I have a bad habit of misunderstanding people sometimes :P
(On an attempt at humor: at least McDonald's hamburgers would make an interesting mural on the tanks? Heh, sorry, bad humor. Oh well.)
~Moshi-chan
Moshi,
I also sometimes come on a bit too strongly. The curse of the curmudgeon. LOL.
I understand that you are a young person. Please never stop investigating, learning and SEEKING THE TRUTH no matter where it leads and NO MATTER HOW DISTURBING.
TRUTH IS ALL WE HAVE.
Regards
LOL it's not terrible - you should see some of the odd things my friends and I get on about xD Now that can be seriously disturbing.. :D
Yeah. "Truth is all we have" is an excellent motto.. almost too bad I already love my tagline to death xP
Regards back at you,
~Moshi-chan
Chinese is not terribly difficult to learn to speak. It's the reading that kills ya! My daughter has a rudimentary ability, but I really wish her school would offer it.
"Chinese has 40 characters and is one of the easiest languages there is."
Chinese has at least hundreds of characters.
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