MischievousMonkey
Gor bu dëgër
In which language does the school system in your country operate?
I know that in francophone Africa (Senegal for sure) children grow up learning their native language at home, then go in school where the first entire year is dedicated to learning French. The entirety of their classes from this point on will be taught in French, with, of course, no time dedicated to the study of their native language.
Now some of yall know how complicated French is. Even though I knew all of this information, my pops pointed out something that might be obvious but that I never thought about: this situation must play a role in learning abilities, school performance and mental development of the children.
The majority of the world goes to school and is taught in their native language that they speak since babies, and even with that, plenty struggle at school. Imagine if you were taught everything from basic concepts and calculus to complex ideas in a language you are just learning? Of course you would progress way more slowly than everybody else in the world when it comes to academics.
Not only you have to understand the question and formulate the good answer, but you also have to translate it first. I'm not even speaking on the fact that francophone Africa still uses an older, stricter and more complex version of French that French people today cannot master.
Of course, this kind of reasoning never comes up when discussing Africa's development or when eugenics talk about African alleged IQ scores (not that these matter or mean anything, but it's just a reminder).
Realizing this simple fact made me find a renewed appreciation, admiration and respect for all my Africans that still, despite all the difficulties, come out the struggle winning
I know that in francophone Africa (Senegal for sure) children grow up learning their native language at home, then go in school where the first entire year is dedicated to learning French. The entirety of their classes from this point on will be taught in French, with, of course, no time dedicated to the study of their native language.
Now some of yall know how complicated French is. Even though I knew all of this information, my pops pointed out something that might be obvious but that I never thought about: this situation must play a role in learning abilities, school performance and mental development of the children.
The majority of the world goes to school and is taught in their native language that they speak since babies, and even with that, plenty struggle at school. Imagine if you were taught everything from basic concepts and calculus to complex ideas in a language you are just learning? Of course you would progress way more slowly than everybody else in the world when it comes to academics.
Not only you have to understand the question and formulate the good answer, but you also have to translate it first. I'm not even speaking on the fact that francophone Africa still uses an older, stricter and more complex version of French that French people today cannot master.
Of course, this kind of reasoning never comes up when discussing Africa's development or when eugenics talk about African alleged IQ scores (not that these matter or mean anything, but it's just a reminder).
Realizing this simple fact made me find a renewed appreciation, admiration and respect for all my Africans that still, despite all the difficulties, come out the struggle winning