Likewise, it has long been known that the best time to start foreign language instruction is in the early grades, where kids can pick it up effortlessly. Yet in the public school system, kids don't get any until high-school
A friend of mine was talking to a friend of hers, who teaches at a private school for very well-to-do families. There, they do language instruction starting from first grade. My friend asked the teacher why this wasn't done in regular schools. Her reply: "One does not give servants the keys to the master's bedroom." I'm not making this up.
Call me tinfoil-hatted, but the only explanation that makes sense to me is that there is a deliberate and conscious effort to sabotage the education of public school kids, so that the gifted middle-class kids will not be competition for the kids of the elites. I worry all the time about what I could do to make my kids more competitive in the 21st century. I'm sure that parents among the elites must also be thinking about what they can do. And I would not be surprised if more than a few conclude that, while there is a limit to how well fertilizer will make their saplings grow, a chainsaw may be effective in making sure they are taller than any competition
It might be a big conspiracy, but let's be reasonable. Language instruction just isn't a big priority to anyone. They are busy fighting for more money, smaller classes, etc.
Frankly, if I had a choice, I'd vote against foreign languages being taught in my local school. About the only way they could fit it in is to completely eliminate the only recess the kids get.
I agree it would be best if the children learned foreign languages in elementary school, and in Europe it's not uncommon for students to finish high school proficient in several languages. Of course, if they don't do well enough in elementary school there, they don't get to go to high school. They go to job training instead.
I teach in a high school. Frankly, at this point I'd be happy if my students were reading and doing math somewhere near grade level by the time they got to me.
the only explanation that makes sense to me is that there is a deliberate and conscious effort to sabotage the education of public school kids, so that the gifted middle-class kids will not be competition for the kids of the elites
If that's true, it's a remarkably short-sighted strategy, because those children who have no job skills will not be good employees for the elites either.
It's not just the elites, you know. Somewhere around 1975 I was living in Florida when either the state or the district I was living in implemented its first high school graduation test. A sample test was printed in the paper. All the questions were "life skills" types of questions - reading well enough to understand a newspaper story or basic instructions, doing math well enough to balance a checkbook or calculate sales tax.
The first time the test was given, some students failed, and many of those who failed were minorities. The NAACP immediately tried to sue the school system, saying the test discriminated against black students. They didn't seem at all concerned that those students might not have the skills needed to be successful in life.