Reply to S/O what''s the point of studying Mandarin?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]That's a remarkably blinkered view of the utility of learning.[/quote]
+1  Learning another language helps your brain work in different ways.  IMO, it shouldn't be just viewed for utilitarian purposes, ie, it will help me get ahead.  I studied French and speak another Asian dialect; my DH is from the UK, and he studied German, a bit of Spanish and French.  We found it a bit useful when we traveled abroad.  In school, learning about the culture was also a part of learning the language.

I would tell your kids to learn whatever language they want to learn, even if it's Latin, which is helpful for premed/prelaw.  It just makes you a more well-rounded person and exercises your brain in different ways, kind of like learning to play an instrument.[/quote]
That's a fine attitude if you're subscribing to the theory that learning a language is just good brain expansion.  If that's your view, a child could learn Klingon (for example) and get the same benefit.  And I agree that learning about different things is useful.  But personally, I'd imagine most children would get more out taking three years of an "international culture" course where they learn (in English) about the history, politics, and culture of another country (or countries), perhaps even with a little basic conversational work on the country's language, than they do taking a full-on language course for 3+ years.

How much of your high school French/German/Spanish do you really remember now?  Not much, I bet.  Was it really worth 4 years of class time in high school?  Not IMHO.[/quote]

How much calculus do you remember and use?  Probably none, especially if you are not in the STEM field.  But, I bet you took math at least up to Calculus.

A child could learn Klingon, but that would have zero value, except maybe at the Star Trek convention or the Klingon camp.  At least with real foreign languages, you could use it while travelling.  Additionally, a lot of the languages are very similar, so if you know Spanish, you could probably communicate a little bit in a French or Italian speaking country.  A friend, who is from South America, traveled to Italy and was able to communicate a bit with the locals in Spanish.  I think that's wonderful.

Along those lines, why do we need to read Shakespeare, Whitman, and the like in HS.  Are we ever going to use it?  Maybe if you become a writer, which I'm not. But, I had to read all of that in school.

We read those books, learn math up to Calculus and learn foreign languages because it helps exercise different parts of your brain and makes you a more well-rounded person.  And in the end, you become a more educated person.  That's the goal of an education.[/quote]

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