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Completely backwards. Make it effective, don’t kill it. The obvious way to do that is to start early. The typically US approach is to ignore foreign languages u
by mikeash 8y ago
Completely backwards. Make it effective, don’t kill it. The obvious way to do that is to start early. The typically US approach is to ignore foreign languages until high school, when the child is well past their best years for acquiring a new language. Why did anyone ever think that was a good idea?
- gizmo686 8y agoI went to a Jewish day school as a child. We had Hebrew classes from preschool through 8th grade (after which point I switched to a secular high school). At the end of 8th grade, I could still divide my class into two groups: people who cannot speak Hebrew, and people who speak Hebrew at home. In college, I took 2 semesters of Japanese. Guess which language I am stronger at today. (Still no where near fluent). We would not devote nearly enough time in school to teach children a second language.
- mikeash 8y agoIt’s obviously possible, since lots of countries do it with English. Let’s do it right.