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#1134: Bilingualism: Morse comments
From: oloffsonram <oloffsonram@globelsud.net>
Haiti's culture is different than most cultures in the "west"...first
of all, its traditional educational system is an oral tradition not a
written tradition...if you really want to learn about haiti, you have
to learn creole and go talk to the so-called "un-educated" people...
they are the ones with the knowledge...how is haitian "knowledge" going
to be preserved once we westernize the whole educational system...oral
tradition and written tradition are two completely different approaches
to education and life, based on different sets of "givens"...further
still, westerners and many "educated" haitians still don't understand
the importance of vodou, herbal medicines, traditional dances, extended
family living, etc. in haitian culture...how are non-western concepts
going to be integrated in a new western educational system...if haiti
was self-sufficient and living in a harmonious world, haitians wouldn't
need to learn other languages (french, english, spanish,etc.), but the
fact of the matter is, miami and the dominican republic, among others,
are becoming haiti's suburbs... if you're going to do business with
other countries, either these countries have to learn creole or
haitians have to learn the appropriate language....in essence, haiti
has to go in multiple directions at once...they have to go to the past
so as not to lose their rich cultural traditions and heritage and they
have to go towards the future and open up to the surrounding cultures
in order to deal with the realities of modern international trade and
relations..
richard morse