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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: cosmicforce who wrote (494180)	7/9/2022 12:06:53 PM
From: koan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 540706

I think a second language is very important, research shows it makes people smarter, but it should not disqualify a person from attending a university. My brother who tested higher than I had dyslexia and I struggle with languages. I had the grades to attend UC Berkeley, but could not go as I could not learn a foreign language, but I was several grades ahead of my classmates in math. So I had to attend a state college that did not require it, San Jose state. Ironically the U of Washington did not require it for my graduate work. And I think UC dropped that requirement. What I am saying are a couple of things I believe are fundamental to education that few talk about. 1) The (average) human mind is capable of so much more than most realize, BUT it also takes much longer to realize than people think. Certainly high school is not enough. High school kids are still living in the concrete world. I taught high school and realized they were not ready to discuss big concepts and so went to graduate school wanting to teach college. But most of what I learned I learned on my own by reading more books than almost any of my friends. As mentioned the goal is to achieve the ability to see the abstract world. As the modern world is increasingly abstract and those who do not learn enough are having a tough time. But also just to live a richer life. 2) I think in this day and age, or any time really, a highly developed mind without a trade will do better in life than an undeveloped mind with a trade. And I hate it when people want to substitute trades for education. Russia did that about 15? years ago and it has been a disaster for the country. We can see it in the Ukraine war where the small Ukraine army is kicking the shit out of the Russians because they can use technology better. Precisions drones e.g. Or the Jews who kicked the shit out of the entire Arab nations in the six day war. Trades are fine, but they should not substitute for education. The Nordic countries make a concerted effort to educate their people, we do not. For one thing we need more medical schools and they should be free, IMO. <> languages should [not] be compulsory. You position surprises me. In California and the rest of the Southwest everyone should have basic North, Central and South American Spanish (not Castilian which is quite different) to understand if someone is in distress or ask basic directions or where to get something to eat. It is not that hard to get a 1000 word vocabulary and learn some basic verb conjugation when the brain is plastic. It would foster some tolerance and respect for the majority group of non-white residents and make us less colonial.