#1134: Bilingualism: Morse comments

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

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