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Re: Why Americans feel no compulsion to learn foreign languages



Alan Horowitz <[email protected]> writes:

> Certainly, I believe TCM's proposition that there is no "economic need"
> for an American to learn a second language.
>
> On the other hand, I haven't seen any demonstration of the "value" of
> learning history. Yet, who would argue that ignorance of history is a
> good policy to follow?

Likewise, Tim says there's no value in learning about "traditional" crypto.
I say there is.
There's a value in convinving a child to learn a second language (at least 1)
or history or geometry: it improves his/her thinking process in general.
Sure beats baseball (one of the things I dislike most about the U.S.)
As someone pointed out, most monolingual Americans can't use English properly.

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<a href="mailto:[email protected]">Dr. Dimitri Vulis</a>
Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps