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From: elna@netcom.com (Esperanto League N America)
Subject: Re: Esperanto? The EU? (Very, very long)
Message-ID: <elnaD40K0w.8Ix@netcom.com>
Organization: Esperanto League for North America, Inc.
References: <donhD3v8EG.275@netcom.com> <3hn0q5$h6g@fido.asd.sgi.com> <donhD3y04n.JIH@netcom.com> <3hphq0$spn@fido.asd.sgi.com>
Date: Tue, 14 Feb 1995 23:31:43 GMT
Lines: 66
Sender: elna@netcom4.netcom.com

livesey@solntze.engr.sgi.com (Jon Livesey) writes in a recent posting (reference <3hphq0$spn@fido.asd.sgi.com>):
>
>
>Describe in detail the process by which Esperanto is going to
>become a common working language for the EC.   We're told that
>the last thing in anyone's mind is to enforce it, and we're 
>told that Esperanto needs no subsidies, special treatment, or 
>favouritism from EC officials.   We are told that no-one is to
>be required to speak it.
>
If Esperanto were included in the stable of languages offered to
school-children in some schools as an experimental test of the
claims of its supporters, one could construct rational plans based
on the results of this experiment.
If it is demonstrated that Esperanto works well as a *first* foreign
language, creating a clear model of language aquisition and a positive
attitude towards language-learning, then it would be recommended to
ministries of education that they apply this result by introducing
Esperanto instruction more widely at grammar-school levels.
If Esperanto is allowed as a subject at high-schools, and the performance
of students objectively measured, we could test the claims of Esperanto's
ease of aquisition. If it is placed in lists of elective classes, we could
test its popular appeal.   If it proves popular and easy, then it would be
recommended to ministries of education that they apply these results by
introducing Esperanto instruction more widely at high-school levels.

This could be tested at any level in any school district, with the results
applied similarly. UNESCO endorses such an experiment. But it is UNESCO's
task to encourage educational projects, n'est-ce pas? Actually this is a
project which meets *all* of that organization's fields of interest-- it 
is simultaneously educational, scientific and cultural.

If this is not specific enough for Mr. Livesey, I apologise. I have not
addressed the minutiae of language instruction, for it is exactly parallel
with the instruction of any other language, albeit faster. 

There are sufficient potential Esperanto teachers already in place, for
many teachers of already-accepted subjects are also proficient in
Esperanto. I would request a simple change of policy-- to allow Esperanto
to be taught on an experimental basis, with future policy flexible enough
to adapt to the results.   


As Mr. Rauhamaa has reported elsewhere, the Finnish government changed
course several decades ago, replacing German with English as the most
emphasized foreign language. It is possible for *any* government agency,
even education ministries, to improve their performance based on results
of scientific studies and social trends. 


I just recieved a letter from a professor at Monash University in
Victoria, Australia which describes a project to investigate the claims
of Esperanto as propaedeutic for non-European languages. Some 200 children
will learn Esperanto in elementary schools and later study Chinese or 
Japanese. Their performance will be compared to other students who studied 
some other European language before Chinese or Japanese, and another group
which begins with no background in foreign language. This experiment bears 
watching and emulation. It also reflects the current linguistic reality:
even English speakers must learn other languages to act in the (post)modern
world!

Miko.




