Education: Speaking In Forked Tongues

American Thinker ^ | April 13, 2012 | Bruce Deitrick Price

[BruceDeitrickPrice]

"Why Bilinguals Are Smarter," a recent column in the New York Times, suggests that children raised in two-language homes tend to have higher IQs, because their brains are forced to be more nimble.

Let's stipulate that this is true. Still, I think there's more to the story. I suspect that any intellectual activity -- playing piano, chess, daily nature walks, video games, learning the constellations -- would tend to speed up intellectual development. A lot of times our modern educators will smugly insist: don't go too fast; children need to be ready to learn! But if parents are speaking two languages, nobody bothers to ask the children, are you ready to be bilingual? The children, as infants, are willy-nilly tossed into total immersion. They respond.

I think there's a lesson here, generally. There is no reason to wait in education. Even complex subjects include simple facts. Start with those. See if a child shows interest. I know a kindergarten teacher who teaches four-year-olds all the things that you might think would be appropriate in first and second grade. The children respond. The brain is not only ready to learn; it's eager to learn. I would put it this way: the brain likes to be busy. When children see progress, they feel good about themselves, and they learn even more.

There is a second way in which the article is unhelpful. It seems to set up a simple, side-by-side comparison: people who speak one language (dumb) versus those who speak two (smart). That hides the primary problem with the kids in our public schools.

It's not that they know only one language. It's that they know nothing deep about even that one language. Our kids know, we might say, one half of one language....

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/04/education_speaking_in_forked_tongues.html#ixzz1sEhQB6bG

[robowombat]

‘Children are taught as little as possible. Second, instead of being taught the right way to do things, they are taught bad habits such as guessing, invented spelling, close is good enough, and fuzziness of all kinds. They don't get smarter. They are the victims of a war against both content and precision.’

The more ‘progressive’ the state or community the truer this is. Have any of you had this experience on the job or anywhere. You hear a 20something make a statement that is incorrect in content and postulates and you respond with a short but factual and conceptual rebuttal and the counter response is just incomprehension and snorting dismissal. There are a lot of really ignorant people around with BA’s and MA’s.

[terycarl]

I hadn’t considered that, but it makes sense

[Teflonic]

All the required foreign language courses are such a waste of time and resources as english is the best language in the world with the largest vocabulary (by far) and is most widely understood.

[BenLurkin]

I'd rather have a kid who spoke English properly and played the piano competently.

That would demonstrate a sufficiently nimble mind.

Remember, English is already two languages in one.

[aruanan]

Remember, English is already two languages in one.

At the very least.