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From: elna@netcom.com (Esperanto League N America)
Subject: Re: talk & travel
Message-ID: <elnaD450n5.2u4@netcom.com>
Organization: Esperanto League for North America, Inc.
References: <elnaD3oBsD.IE7@netcom.com> <3hp376$7a3@fido.asd.sgi.com> <elnaD402y9.4x@netcom.com> <3hs16u$rkj@fido.asd.sgi.com>
Date: Fri, 17 Feb 1995 09:21:04 GMT
Lines: 37
Sender: elna@netcom13.netcom.com

livesey@solntze.engr.sgi.com (Jon Livesey) writes in a recent posting (reference <3hs16u$rkj@fido.asd.sgi.com>):
>In article <elnaD402y9.4x@netcom.com>, elna@netcom.com (Esperanto League N America) writes:
>
>|> I maintain that education should be given higher priority for dwindling 
>|> resources-- that is, we should invest more strongly in education. In the
>|> United States, the system is breaking down and is already nearly worthless.
>|> This I say as informed opinion, for I am by profession a teacher.
>
>That's nice, but what does it have to do with the topic at hand?  Will
>teaching Esperanto solve the LA gang problem?   Will teachers who can't
>pass a basic literacy course magically become experts when you put an
>Esperanto handbook into their hands?
>
Here Mr. Livesey resorts to his favorite style of straw man argument. He
attempts to divert the argument into a claim never made, which he then
attacks.
Nobody ever claimed that Esperanto is a panacea which will cure gang
violence or incompetency.
The introduction of Esperanto into school curricula might increase
students' ability in language aquisition and manipulation, and this
might lead to increased interest in and awareness of other peoples
and cultures.

>The problems with the US education system are basic and chronic.   You
>really shouldn't imply that Esperanto offers any solution.   Criminey,
>we're not short of snake oil, just of teachers.
>
I agree that US education can stand a bit of improvement, and hazard a
guess that this is also true for most parts of the world. I shall
continue to suggest that a study of Esperanto might be beneficial, and
that the option to choose Esperanto might be democratic and fair.
As to "snake oil"-- is this just name-calling again, or is there something
substantive that I've missed?

Miko.


