To have Bilingual Education or not Have Bilingual Education?

[deboinair]

Just a quick thought. Do they gave bilingual education in Cuba? Probably not. If you are going to live in a place you should speak the language. In the USA English. In Cuba Spanish or what ever the native tongue is where country you are in.

[valicky]

I'm not sure how it is now, but my parents came from Cuba in 1962 and they spoke English. My mother better than my father, but they both knew it already.

[Miserere]

Originally Posted by deboinair

Just a quick thought. Do they gave bilingual education in Cuba? Probably not. If you are going to live in a place you should speak the language. In the USA English. In Cuba Spanish or what ever the native tongue is where country you are in.

There were private bilingual schools, several AMHS', private English-only Military Academies (Reston), private American Religious Orders such as the Dominicans, plus English was taught at night classes, most public and private HS and many youngsters travelled to the US to study English, just like in Miami with Spanish. The ruins of those instititions are still in place.

Part of a good education is knowing a foreign language, in the days of old all cultured people used to study Latin, Greek, French, Hebrew..

In fact, if you read about the language skills of the founding fathers, I bet they would be horrified by the incapacity of the inhabitants of the nation they forged to learn a language, any language.

Spanish is not demanded by a political agenda, but I guess that is the only feasible language. I don't see HS students learning German, Latin, Greek or French beyond "volez vouz coucher avec moi".

As to the "language of the US is English" as if it was some biblical predetermination, the US has no official language. A "official" language in inscontitutional, it would be doing the same things European Absolute Monarchies were doing. An Official language for the US is as UNAMERICAN as a NATIONAL IDENTITY CARD.

Lastly, being monolingual is a thing of the past, even in nation-continents.

[Loggerhead Shrike]

I am definitely for foreign language classes as they add to a person's cultural education but here in the USA, people [and I mean the "natives"] also have to learn English as they can't even write or speak their own language correctly. Double negatives etc...The founding fathers would be shocked.

[Miserere]

A foreign language is a basic pre-requisite, just as Math or Geography. Before, back in the 50's, German was the most popular foreign language along with French.

Why Spanish is number one now?

Easier, Spanish is similar to English, no declinations and most people know some Spanish. Plus, many Hispanics take Spanish (just like Cheech and Chong) because for them it's easier.

And really, and as posted by the previous poster, if most people have problems learning their native language, I don't see them learning German, Russian or French.

[Miserere]

Originally Posted by deboinair

Just a quick thought. Do they gave bilingual education in Cuba? Probably not. If you are going to live in a place you should speak the language. In the USA English. In Cuba Spanish or what ever the native tongue is where country you are in.

In fact, nowdays they do. They scrapped Russian and they teach English as foreign language.

Most educated people have a good level of English, also lots of Russian and German speakers and some Chinese speakers.

Quite a mistery since English was not taught during 30 years, it seems that a web of private teachers kept it alive in Havana.

There are private International Schools.