[elegie]

http://www.smh.com.au/national/education-m...0820-24ipb.html

Ken Henry's comments are mostly about the need to learn another language to develop understanding of cultures other than our own, but I there's obviously a lot more to it these days.

Do you think Australia's education system is churning out ignoramuses? (Or is it ignorami? )
Do you think it's important for your kids to learn another language, and why or why not?

FWIW I went to a bilingual school from preschool, and in addition to developing my own linguistic abilities (in English as well French), it opened my eyes to the rest of the world, and made me see things from a different perspective. We are lucky enough to be living in Japan now, and DS is immersed in Japanese at childcare, but even if we weren't, I would be doing what I could to give him the opportunity to learn a language other than English at an early age.

[JRA]

I think we are, and have been for some time.

I "learned" italian for three years in secondary school, that doesn't even count as learning a language.

DS has been learning Japanese from prep, it is great. Will he be fluent forever, of course not, but it is a great start.

I caught up with my best friend on Friday night, he now lives in Germany. He speaks English, French, German, Malay, Mandarin, and I think something else. It is awesome. I can remember his brilliant wedding where it was simply a get together of family and friends. I felt like an ignoramus as I think DH and I were the only ones who could speak one language. Many had flown from overseas to attend.

Thankfully I have travelled a fair bit, but speaking a language would be great

[Saecularis Angel...]

Disclaimer - I speak as a naturalised Australian, raised in a household where my parents spoke four languages, and came from countries where being multilingual is the norm.

I think there's a difference between being educated (as in, having acquired knowledge and skills), and being cultured. To my mind it is impossible to be cultured while being monolingual. Learning another language forces a broadening of mind and thinking, as well as an appreciation of the distinctives of one's own culture of origin.

I will be very disappointed if DD shows no interest in a language other than English, and I plan to encourage her to explore languages from an early age.

[boatiebabe]

I can speak a couple of languages well, another two I can understand and speak somewhat hesitantly and can understand a fifth however speaking in it is an issue.

I don't think necessarily learning a language makes you more aware of other cultures or smarter. Travelling certainly expands your horizons and makes you less ignorant of other people and cultures.

I'm not sure if my children will ever learn another language - right now other things are a priority. However I certainly would love it if their local school offered language classes. I'd certainly be encouraging them to participate.

[Belle~Vie]

I learnt other languages from an early age.

My DH is French so our kids are being raising in a bi-lingual household, which we think is very important.

Although I would say it goes deeper than that, DH & our European friends who come visit Oz are constantly surprised by what is NOT taught in schools here.

They all agree that the education system in this country is seriously lacking.

However that's a very touchy subject to bring up with fellow Australians I find..

This post has been edited by Belle~Vie: 21/08/2012, 11:43 AM

[JRA]

Belle-vie:: can you expand on what they think is missing, I have ideas, but would love to hear.

This post has been edited by JRA: 21/08/2012, 11:45 AM

[tothebeach]

I don't think that being mono-lingual is an issue in itself, I think that it is a symptom. I think it is that we are culturally isolated - we don't understand our place in the world, we don't understand how a global economy works and we don't understand our reliance on other countries for our wealth, our food and our standard of living.

As a result of this, we don't think that we need to know about other countries or their languages.

The schooling system may be some of the cause of this, but I think that our political debate and priorities are the root cause.

[Unatheowl]

I think that leaning another language has many important benefits including brain development. I dont think that speaking another language equals being more aware or educated about other cultures.

There are many other countries where people are far less aware or tolerant of other cultures (this would probably be the majority). In relative terms, I think Australians are very aware of the world around them. Could it be more, of course, but we need to stop this weird self-consiousness and overcompensation thing.

[frozie]

DS has been learning German at school since Prep (currently Grade 2). DH is not happy because he is French so of course wants him to learn that

[Belle~Vie]

Belle-vie:: can you expand on what they think is missing, I have ideas, but would love to hear.

A lot of what I'd term 'cultural deprivation'. Philosophy, the arts, world events & global awareness. Admittedly as mentioned this is largely from a French perspective & so these things are important there, as I think (disclaimer: I am an Arts graduate) they should be here too!

So many Aussies I work with (in the corporate sector) know next to nothing about about these issues & have little to no interest in knowing them either. These same people of course proclaim 'Straya' to be the best country in the world despite rarely venturing from it

There's more, much much more but I'll have to fill that in later.

Sad to see & something (as an Aussie) I'm quite embarrassed about. Sorry to all my fellow countrymen/women I've offended but that is largely how it is out there, & believe me there's a whole other world out there!