tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8028220025584012684.post1057705941658067581..comments2024-02-29T13:16:33.706+05:30Comments on Bolii | बोली | భాష | Language | Lingvo: India's Supreme Court on mother and other tonguesगिरिधर | giridhar | గిరిధర్http://www.blogger.com/profile/00964919802142337619noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8028220025584012684.post-85477629783015127692009-07-22T00:56:54.537+05:302009-07-22T00:56:54.537+05:30Thanks, Basab, for that reasonable question:
>...Thanks, Basab, for that reasonable question:<br /><br />> If bilingual education is<br />> beneficial for the child, why <br />> should parents be against it?<br /><br />One answer is in the writings of Tove Skutnabb-Kangas. Here's what she says in <a href="http://www.wiki.indianfolklore.org/images/8/81/IFL.32.pdf" rel="nofollow">a recent essay</a> (PDF):<br /><br />*********<br />Two of the most harmful myths in ITM [indigenous/tribal and minority] education are that starting to teach ITM children early through the medium of a dominant language, be it a regional dominant language or English, and exposing the children maximally to this language, results in good competence in that language. Wrong wrong wrong!<br /><br />The more the mother tongue is used as the teaching language, the better the results also in English, the world's largest study, with over 200,000 children in the USA showed (Thomas & Collier 2002). The other myth is that knowing English is enough and guarantees a good job. A large-scale European study "Plurilingual competences on the labour market" (1998-2000, random sample panel, 8,232 individuals, aged 20-64) concluded:<br /><br />"The advantages of commanding English will tend to diminish when these competencies become more and more abundant" (Klein 2007: 278). English opens some doors – yes. But a safe way towards good competence in English – or a regional dominant language – starts with mainly mother tongue medium education.<br /><br />All the references mentioned here can be found on my home page in my over 300-page bibliography at www.Tove-Skutnabb-Kangas.org. Several longer articles about similar issues can also be downloaded there.<br />*********<br /><br />The "early-start" and "maximal-exposure" myths need to be exploded. They cause a great deal of misery to kids, <i>and</i> - to the extent that they succeed - result in <i>subtractive</i> bilingualism (or multilingualism).गिरिधर | giridhar | గిరిధర్https://www.blogger.com/profile/00964919802142337619noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8028220025584012684.post-91852061539742829932009-07-22T00:27:19.332+05:302009-07-22T00:27:19.332+05:30"Just as the Court would not leave many, many..."Just as the Court would not leave many, many educational matters "to the parents" (or to teachers or school management), bilingual education too is a subject on which it should be guided by worldwide research."<br /><br />Giri - it seems to me that the Supreme Court did its job by protecting the freedom of parents to educate their children in whatever language of instruction they choose to. If bilingual education is beneficial for the child, why should parents be against it?Basab Pradhanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16440577462073796987noreply@blogger.com