Jay Of Melbourne,

+1 to the sentiments expressed in your post. Different State, same experience.

Foxy,

The argument isn't about language education. What you need to defend is your demand for compulsory Asian languages in schools.

You also appear to want an Asian language (which?) as Australia's second language. For what possible purpose?

.

Dear Jay Of Melbourne,

.

You observe :

« It's about 10,000km from Melbourne to South Africa, China and Chile, the distance is basically the same to Africa, Asia and South America and since Australia is a continent all on it's own there's no reason beyond greed to engage with Asians or to give them special attention … the distance from Paris to Delhi is about 7,000 km, Melbourne to Delhi is 10,000 km, by your logic the French should be more engaged with Indians than Australians are. »

.

Your geography is impeccable, Jay. But you forgot to mention that Dili in East Timor is only 720 km from Darwin. Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, with its population of 10 million (almost half the population of Australia) is only 2,700 km from Darwin. South-East Asia is literally on our doorstep compared to Africa and South America that you mention.

But geography is not the only determining factor in our historical relationships (or lack of them) with other countries. Australia was a British colony for 113 years (1788 – 1901) and gained its independence 114 years ago. We are just one year older as an independent nation.

It was only after the end of the second Vietnam War in 1975 that we reoriented our trade and diplomatic relationships away from Europe towards our Asian neighbours. The movement was accelerated by the opening up of China to the rest of the world in 1978 when Deng Xiaoping liberalised the Chinese economy. All this coincided with the UK joining the European Common Market in 1973 which made it imperative for us to seek alternative markets.

You wrote:

« all we see when we go outside are Asians dealing drugs to our kids, defrauding, robbing and raping our neighbours, … »

If you look a little closer, Jay, you will see that most crimes committed by Asians are among themselves (“triads”, etc.). Most rapes occur among members of Australian families.

Our British parent deported 162,000 of our ancestors as convict-slaves to develop their colony. We have to forgive and forget, Jay.

.

Observation on geography: if one crosses the the river that runs through Istanbul then one has gone from Europe to Asia, or vice versa depending on which side one is on to start.

Good Morning Everyone,

I raised the topic of "Should Asian Languages be
mandatory in our schools?" for discussion, and it
seems to have broadened out to include languages
in general.

I got the idea from listening to
our Foreign Affairs Minister - Julie Bishop speak
on the subject. It's been quite a revelation reading
the various posts. Interesting to also read
the problems encountered by education experts and the
students themselves - in the links I found and read
on the web.

Certainly there are problems involved -
but most experts seem to agree that the teaching of
languages has many benefits - which include the ability
to communicate within and across cultures, an understanding
of and respect for - diversity and difference, an extension
of literacy skills, and the development of cognitive and
critical thinking skills, to name just a few.

Experts also
point out that competence in a second language can also
enhance employment and career prospects.

The following link is worth a read for those who have the
interest and the time on this controversial issue. It's
a Report compiled by the Australian Curriculum Assessment
and Reporting Authority on the Australian Curriculum regarding
languages - the problems involved and the steps that will
be taken to improve things - regarding teachers, and the
study of languages for students.

http://www.acara.edu.au/verve/_resources/Languages_-_Shape_of_the_Australian_curriculum.pdf

It's worth a read.

acara should be sacked.

When will the public and the community most affected be directly consulted on education policy?

What about the thousands of students who are underachieving, or falling through the gaps and the thousands more who leave school functionally illiterate in the essentials, maths, English and civics to participate fully in society?

Have you worked out how the compulsory Asian language will affect that? Or will the failure and self-harming numbers be added to as the collateral damage of more social experimentation?

The ideal of a totally diversified Australia will have to wait.

May I politely suggest that the link I gave by
the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting
Authority be actually read prior to posting.
It answers a lot of the concerns being expressed.
Also just an equally polite suggestion - it is
far more beneficial to a discussion if instead of
simply criticising (that's easy), and slinging
the usual - how about offering
some alternative solutions. Anyone can criticise -
but it does not achieve anything constructive or
add anything of substance to the discussion -
especially if one is expecting a response.