I am in regular touch with a Cuban exile who has done some volunteer work for me proofreading the Spanish translation of my book, Lessons Learned from Years of Homeschooling and is currently beginning the proofreading process of Rushdoony's The Philosophy of the Christian Curriculum. I thought I would share a part of one of his recent emails.
Honestly speaking, I see America's future in homeschooling children, teaching them sound Christian values. Public education can be described only with a C word. I just came back home from a visit to an elderly pastoral couple who came to America for the first time in 1956 and finally established themselves in Miami in 1960. They say that the U.S. they knew in those years had nothing to do with present day America. In their opinion America - like Cuba - has degenerated over the years. We shared our concerns that, if Cuba becomes free from Communism, and the major influence will be the U.S., then corruption, prostitution, homosexual marriage, drugs and pornography could be the main "assets" imported from America. As you may see, even Cuban exiles worry about America's future, sensing that it will be linked to Cuba's own future.
He asked me a question that I thought I would throw out to my blog readers.
My main concern is when Hispanic or other non-English speaking people try to homeschool their children. How will the children get their English to a level good enough to compete for jobs, pass State examinations, etc?
Any thoughts?
Posts
I don't have children, but I will be reading your blog to pass on information to my sister. I recently helped convince her to homeschool her youngest son.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that a person who is motivated enough to homeschool is motivated enough to attend adult education courses to learn English. The parents and children could learn together.
Ditto the previous commentor... and, it would seem, based on conversations w/ some fellow Americans, that public school teaching of English is hardly to be lauded!
ReplyDeleteI am a first generation Cuban-American with an 11 year old and a 9 year old homeschooled children. Our primary language is English, but we are all fluent in Spanish (reading and writing).
ReplyDeleteFrankly, I believe that the homeschool curriculum which my children use is far superior to anything I ever had and I am a product of public schools (while it was still "good" educationally speaking). I cannot envision any non-English speaking child struggling to pick up English or being at a disadvantage simply because they did not attend public school. Incidentally, my 11 year old's reading comprehension (according to state tests) is at a 12th grade level and my 9 year old is at 9th grade level. However, what I've failed to mention is that when we began to teach our children, they only spoke Spanish! We wanted to provide them with the advantage of having a second language, so we only spoke in Spanish to them. Now, their primary language is English, but they're fluent in both languages.
There's no reason to fear. If anything, they will learn the language correctly.
I concur with "scrape", public school teaching is vastly inferior - at least in South Florida.
Parents who homeschool seek the best for their children. This means that if there is a need for advanced mathmatics or science, learning a musical instrument, public speaking or debate, or a second language -- whether it be French, Spanish, English, German, Japanese, or any other, they will do what it takes to see to it that their children learn what they need to learn. There is no need to fear a lack.
ReplyDeleteLa respuesta es sencilla. Instruídlos en ambas lenguas, asegurando dominio de al menos una sobre la cual edificar la otra.
ReplyDeleteOr, in other words, teach them appropriately both languages.
I've been homeschooling for 14 years. Except for 2 years in day care, none of my 3 children has graced a government or private school in all their lives. Today they're doing college at home. (Yes, it's possible, and this I say with 7 years of college behind my own belt.) It's all in how the parents constitute their schooling program.
I was born a Costa Rican and spent my first 14 years of life in Latin America. My native language is Spanish. I have full command of English because I gained full command of Spanish in my childhood. All my children were born and raised in the USA. Their native language is English, but their command of Spanish depends on their solid knowledge of English.
My point is that, based on this successful personal experience, I'm convinced that a Spanish-speaker must first know his own tongue well before attempting to learn another language effectively, because the latter builds on the former. (I suggest this would apply to anyone wishing to learn a new language.)
In all my years as a Californian and in my visits to Florida, New York, Chicago, Seattle and throughout the Southwest, where I've met numerous fellow Spanish-speakers, the most salient characteristic that I've noticed in the Latinos who I've encountered is the ignorance of their own language. You can hand a Reina-Valera Bible (equivalent to an English NKJV) to any average Latino in the USA, turn a page to any Psalm, read five verses, ask the listener to narrate back what you've just read and be confronted by a blank stare, as most of the beautiful prose would have practically fluttered far above this person's head, as if it had been a foreign language read to him. So weak is the control that the average Spanish-speaker in the U.S. has over his native language. How then can we expect them to pick up English in force?
Frankly, the choice is simple for Spanish-speaking homeschoolers in the U.S. Either teach your children sound Spanish and then build English upon that foundation, as was my case, or teach your children English as their first language and build Spanish upon this foundation, as was my children's case. I must admit that the latter scenario is a hard trade-off for those of us who are native speakers. Yet it is a price we pay as aliens in a foreign land, though it be a land that welcomes and continues to benefit from a well cultivated Hispanic legacy.