From: Herb Sutter <herbs@connobj.com>
Date: Wed, 27 Mar 1996 18:38:25 +0800
To: "Michael C. Peponis" <cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Let's *NOT* "Raise their Awareness"
Message-ID: <2.2.32.19960327042730.00737020@mail.interlog.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 18:07 03.26.1996 -5:00, Michael C. Peponis wrote:
>On  Tue, 26 Mar 1996 , David K. Merriman wrote:
>>Regrettably, I must disagree with Mr. May on the matter of speaking
>>in whatever language one chooses. It seems that here in Texas
>>(specifically, here in Amarillo), a local judge informed a Hispanic
>>family that they were prohibited from speaking _only_ Spanish to
>>their child at home. The rationale was that since English is the
>>(ostensibly, in this area) Public Language of the school system here,
>>failure to encourage use of English would adversely impact the
>>child's education, and was thus a form of child abuse. If need be, I
>>can provide excerpts from the local snoozepapers coverage of the
>>issue.
>
>The judge is correct in this matter, most people view it from the 
>rights of the parents, but what about the child who, because of 
>his/her parents egotism and ignorance, grows up not being able to 
>compete effectivly?
>
>My rights, even parental rights, end when their exersize directly 
>impact someone else(the child) in a negative way.

Gee, that's funny.  I grew up in a household where we always spoke only
German, and not only that but I had to write one page of German daily to
keep my writing skills up; I was fluent in it at three.  I grew up in a
neighbourhood where we always spoke English; I was fluent in it at four.  I
grew up in a school system that offered me French immersion for about six
years, so for several years most of my classes were in French only; I was
fluent in it at fifteen.  I now speak and write all three languages (though
I'm most fluent in English and the French is rusty).  I was born in Canada
and have lived here all my life; I don't see the problem.

PMFJI the middle of this, but assuming the above account wasn't taken out of
context it seems awfully ludicrous to me.  Just MHO, of course.  I've never
yet seen a child who can't pick up a language common in the area just by
being around people who speak it... especially if it's the language used and
taught in school!  I have friends who've come from countries in Africa where
there are many tribal groups in addition to the widely-used official French
and English languages, and I was impressed when I saw these teenagers come
over here already fluent in five or six languages... until I was told that's
normal where they come from and everyone knows at least four just to get
around from day to day.  It boggles the mind to think that speaking one
language at home exclusively would have any sort of impact on a child's
development, AFAICS.

To state a REALLY controversial opinion: I've always felt one reason many
kids are so bored with school is that our school systems just plain don't
challenge them, and I'm afraid I see the above as a perfect example of
swaddling and coddling.  Kids are amazing and are guaranteed to surprise
you, when someone takes the time to work with them and set them achievable
goals.

If you'll excuse a European joke: "Q: What does a European call someone who
speaks four languages?  A: Gifted.  Q: Three languages?  A: Bright.  Q: Two
languages?  A: Normal.  Q: One language?  A: American." :-)  (No, this isn't
a snub, it's just meant in good humour; it applies to a lot of us Canucks
too even though we do have two official languages.  Heck, I apply it to
myself; my French is rusty, I haven't used it in over 12 years.)

---
Herb P. Sutter                            Current Network Technologies Corp.
Senior Architect, Distributed Computing   2655 Benedet, Mississauga ON Canada
Cell 416-618-0184                         Tel 416-805-9088   Fax 905-855-7194