"Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny." -- unknown

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results - Albert Einstein

language
August 06, 2006 - 2:45 pm

pretty broad, eh?

but well, think about it.. while it's never going to be possible for some 300 million people to agree on anything of substance.. it's important that we have the dialogue to try and hash out what's best for the most.

i'm basically a utilitarian in this sense -- what's good the most people is what should be done.. with, in my case, the caveat that it shouldn't be something that irrationally harms the minority.

anyway. i came across a short article today that the state of ny is changing the way it tests kids.. namely, from now on, once a child has one year of english .. he or she will have to take the english language arts exam.

i've no idea what exactly this means and the story (link at the end) doesn't say.. but i assume it means if they fail this test, they don't move to the next grade -- or something to this effect.

why is this worth talking about? well.. i'm of the opinion that it's vital everyone living in the country be able to understand each other. if we can't why be one country? why not break the US up into smaller countries?

should everyone know english? yes.

should everyone know a second language? yes.

should that second language be spanish? probably.

should we offer a third language? yes.

should that third language be mandarin? probably.

why spanish and mandarin? spanish is the second most common language used here.. and mandarin is the most common langauge in the world. english is third and spanish is second.. so why not teach our kids the three most common languages in the world? not to mention spanish and mandarin are growing in usage at a rate faster than english...

yes i know.. it's so very much in fashion for kids not to give a shit about school... they don't grasp the importance of an education until far too late. why is this? i don't know.. though i hope someone far smarter than me ferrets out the answer. i think a good deal of it goes back to our growing entitlement philosphy and a sense that we, we being the country, can't lose.

the stories of the growing dominace of china in the world economy.. the rising power of india and brazil.. and the meshing of europe into one country don't seem to strike much of a sense of urgency or change in folks.

it's easy to understand why... we, as a people, are far too focused on just us.

think about it.. toyota.. nissan/renault are talking about buying an ownership stake in GM. just.. ponder that.. is there a company that's more "american" than GM? how would you feel about it becoming a japanese or french company? of course from a practical point.. it doesn't much matter.

in fact many brands you'd bet money to be american aren't -- like ben and jerrys.. they are owned by unilever from the netherlends.. or myspace seems pretty american, no? but it's owned by news corp who isn't american... what about godiva chocolate? sure that's french or european at least! nope, campbells soup owns it... jaguar which most folks associate with english car making is owned by ford...

what's my point? the world is getting smaller.. and the better we can communicate the better off we are.

so.. is it good kids are going to have learn english (at least the american version of it) better? hell yes.

if i ever have kids.. they are going to know two languages at least.. and hopefully three. at the very least, it will give the more options to curse me.

ny story link:
http://www.rnews.com/Story_2004.cfm?ID=40685&rnews_story_type=18&category=10