Education Levels by Country

[ShadowHM]

Generations of non-Anglo Saxon Europeans came to the USA (and Canada) and learned the language. No special provisions or allowances were made for them (I know, I "flunked first grade because I did not know English). Many (I'd say most) of those people learned enough English to get by on.

Most of those generations were not literate, Pete. They could 'get by' in oral communication, and most of them were the equivalent of ditch diggers in job skills too. I know there were exceptions. But 'getting by' is not sufficient in today's economy. These children need to be literate. They need to get out there and gain the skills (going back to my cynical assessment of the purpose of education) to make enough money to pay lots of taxes.

So, is the cost and effort of ESL worth while? Do more people learn English with the course than without it? Do people learn significantly more (or "better") English through ESL than they do by simply living in an English speaking environment? That, BTW, is *not* a trivial question. Native born children seem to learn all the "bad habits" of language use in their region.

From what I have seen, the answer is yes. I may have been unclear in my post above, but there are large numbers of children arriving here already at school ages. They get dropped into the school system immediately, and they can sit there in a basic deaf/mute posture, bored and ready to be trouble makers, or they can get the jump-start into the system with E.S.L. classes. My local high school has many of these students (up to 40% of the school population and up to 40 different language groups).

So, when the schools ask for more money, the tax payer and voter should ask how the money they have received in the past was spent. If the money was being used to "teach a horse to sing", then said tax payer and voter should perhaps force the system to re-evaluate its purpose and goals.

Oh, indeed they should. And instead the voters will cast their votes where the loudest sound bites and the most mean-spirited placement of scapegoats has directed them, as they usually do. <_<





Oh........
and on a completely unrelated and purely selfish note......
I LIKE the ten-month school year. I want to be able to move to the cottage for two months and expose my children to some other 'important' concepts - such as independence, responsibility and self-reliance, not to mention an absence of smog. ;-)