03-14-2003, 05:50 PM
. . . of the USA and Canada.
Hi,
In many cases, an immigrant can choose to assimilate or can choose to remain a member of the "expatriated" society. And in either case, the ability of that person to make a living, to gain respect, to "do well" is driven more by that person's personality than by their command of English.
However, when one is being specific to education, then the matter is different. While I suspect there are schools in the USA and Canada that are taught in languages other than English or French, I do not know of any. Thus, for most children, the choices are home schooling, going back to the "old" country for an education, or going to a school using the local language. Clearly, if the last is chosen (and that is probably the norm), some fluency in that language is required.
Again, I do not dispute the advantage to speaking the language of the country in which one lives. I question only the effectiveness of the ESL programs. Based on the results that I've seen, those programs are a failure and a waste in that no more people become fluent from those programs than would have done so without them.
And, yes. I am proud to be a native born of the city that gave us the Renaissance. Of the city that had democracy two hundred and fifty years before the American Revolution. But damned if I'm a hyphenated anything. I'm American, by choice, not chance. And completely so.
--Pete
Hi,
In many cases, an immigrant can choose to assimilate or can choose to remain a member of the "expatriated" society. And in either case, the ability of that person to make a living, to gain respect, to "do well" is driven more by that person's personality than by their command of English.
However, when one is being specific to education, then the matter is different. While I suspect there are schools in the USA and Canada that are taught in languages other than English or French, I do not know of any. Thus, for most children, the choices are home schooling, going back to the "old" country for an education, or going to a school using the local language. Clearly, if the last is chosen (and that is probably the norm), some fluency in that language is required.
Again, I do not dispute the advantage to speaking the language of the country in which one lives. I question only the effectiveness of the ESL programs. Based on the results that I've seen, those programs are a failure and a waste in that no more people become fluent from those programs than would have done so without them.
And, yes. I am proud to be a native born of the city that gave us the Renaissance. Of the city that had democracy two hundred and fifty years before the American Revolution. But damned if I'm a hyphenated anything. I'm American, by choice, not chance. And completely so.
--Pete
How big was the aquarium in Noah's ark?