Handbook of Language & Ethnic Identity, ch. 4 Education of Minorities Tove Skutnabb-Kangas

Goals in the Education of Minority and Majority Children High levels of multilingualism Academic success in school Strong identity and positive attitudes toward self and others

What are the types of models? Nonmodels – do not attain the three goals and lead to monolingualism Weak models – often assimilationist, but less harsh and may promote academic success, but usually fail at achieving multilingualism Strong models – attain the three goals and achieve multilingualism or at least bilingualism

What are problems with models? Nonmodels and Weak models amount to cultural and linguistic genocide, but they predominate in the education of indigenous and minority children Minority children have low rates of academic success and high rates of unemployment and crime Main problems are poor organization of education and wrong choice of medium

How have ethnic minorities been educated? No concessions Romantic-racist segregation, literacy in the mother tongue Industrialization justifies use of single majority language to build qualified workforce

What are assumptions of deficiency-based theorizing? Nationalistic assimilation presumes to “uplift” minorities Dominating group has access to resources, dominated group has burden of assimilating Most minorities do not have access to mother-tongue education Minorities are blamed for their failures

Nonmodels and weak models Most minority children are in submersion programs, with no support for mother tongue Some submersion programs use a foreign language (often in Africa, Latin America, Asia) Transitional programs give early instruction in mother tongue and then switch to dominant language (Sweden, Holland, US, Anglophone Africa) Segregation programs have education in mother tongue, but it is usually inferior

Mainstream monolingual programs What are examples of a lack of foreign language teaching, leading to “monolingual stupidity”? –US, Russia What are good examples of foreign language teaching –Netherlands & Nordic countries

Assessing Non-models & Weak Models All such models fit UN definition of “linguistic genocide” Transitional early-exit programs are more humane than submersion, but they are language shift programs and do not lead to high-level bilingualism

How should minority education be organized? Bilingualism is good for both majority and minority populations “It does no good to try to change the minority child to fit a majority school. It is not good enough to try to give the minority child an emergency kit so that the child can manage in a racist society. It is not enough to enrich the majority child through a bit of exposure to other cultures. Instead, the whole school must change. Society must change.”

Strong models for the education of ethnic minority & majority Immersion programs for majorities – additive programs alongside instruction in mother tongue, bilingual teachers Language maintenance programs for minorities – content taught in minority language, majority language taught as a subject, bilingual teachers – all minorities should have the right to this type of education

Strong models for the education of ethnic minority & majority, cont’d. Two-way programs and the EU schools model: 50% minority + 50% majority children taught together by bilingual teacher (combination of above two models)

Assessing the principles of strong models 1.Support by using as the main medium of education the language least likely to develop to high level (minority language) 2.Children grouped according to mother tongue (mixing is not beneficial) 3.All children expected to attain high-level bilingualism 4.All children equalized concerning status of mother tongue and language of instruction

Assessing the principles of strong models, cont’d. 5. All teachers bilingual 6. Foreign languages taught through mother tongue 7. All children taught 1 st & 2 nd languages K Both languages used as media for content in education too

Ideal techniques & models Transfer from known to unknown Transfer from teaching a language as a subject to teaching through the medium of that language Transfer from teaching through the medium of the second language in simpler contextualized subjects to more difficult subjects European Union schools model is ideal & scientifically sound

Ethnicity, identity, and mother tongue Despite predictions that ethnic identities would be abandoned in the modern era, they persist, especially when linked to a language Ethnic and linguistic identity are primordial, not chosen How can ethnic and linguistic identity become positive, empowering forces?

Ethnicity, language, and the medium of education Submersion and transitional programs see language as an either/or situation, and education as a tool only for entry into the workforce Stronger models see bi-/multilingualism as the goal and see education as reinforcing values and identity too, viewing minority languages and ethnicities as resources, not handicaps Minorities need to achieve economic, spiritual, and cultural survival