Should Bilingualism be Compulsory?
I wrote this post on September 13, 2021
One of my friends today sent me a link to a New York Times editorial titled “Reversing Gears”: China Increasingly Rejects English, and the World.
The editorial draws on anecdotes (it is the NYT afterall) to conclude that China’s leadership is discouraging its best and brightest from joining the international language of cultural, scientific and financial exchange: English.
Unfortunately, I don’t doubt the conclusions of the article. However, although state mandated barriers to education are never a good thing, I must confess that part of me is sympathetic to the de-emphasis on bilingualism, unless it can realistically be attained without sacrificing other learning experiences.
Being multilingual can be an incredible accelerator to understanding different ways of thinking, seeing and laughing; but I don’t think it’s the only road to getting there. And frankly, very few people who study a new language ever get anywhere close to proficient (let alone fluent), and one has to ask if the cumulative hours spent memorizing words and syntax could actually have been used towards a much more enriching endeavor. For most people, the answer must be Yes.
China is not the only country that has chosen to de-emphasize bilingualism; many others have done so. My friend Jeff today pointed out to me that the Philippines did the same thing after the Americans left, in what he nicely described as “misplaced nationalism.”
That’s the thing, many countries that stop teaching a foreign language probably do it for the same wrong reason - misplaced nationalism - as opposed to for good practical reasons: to allocate more time for science, math, humanities… and physical education!
The other reason it may make sense for China to de-emphasize bilingualism is that, surprisingly, China is still struggling to provide most of its population with a high school degree. According to Stanford professor Scott Rozelle, only about 30% of China’s population today has a high school degree, compared to over 80% in most OECD countries. For more fascinating insights from Dr. Rozelle on education in China, I recommend this youtube video starting at around minute 18.
Notwithstanding my defense of monolingualism, not all languages are equal. English is the global language superpower. You join the English speaking tribe with whatever accent and grammar you may have, to absorb and influence a vibrant global discourse controlled by no-one. While the most powerful native English speaking countries contribute less than 20% of global GDP (sources A, B) and less than 20% of the world speaks English, about 60% of all content on the internet is in English (source). It’s pretty understandable why parents want their kids to learn English.
Finally, and since this essay is happy with NY Times anecdotal conclusions of how the world works, I think bilingualism is terrible for boys. Anecdotally, girls seem to not only be faster and better at speaking their own native language, but also second and third languages. Here’s my money-anecdote: my 8 year-old daughter today spent the day with a friend that has a 10 year-old older sister and a 7 year-old younger brother. The two sisters speak with each other exclusively in English, even though no one else in the family speaks English and the school they go to with my daughter is all in Chinese. They just watch TV and read in English, and they’re fluent! They even fight with each other in English! And here’s an article to back up this anecdote. The outperformance of girls vs boys is not limited to language, there’s a boy scholastic crisis happening around the world, according to thisauthor on TedX, whose social ramifications are being ignored. Yet another example of how the current educational system almost everywhere is in need of complete reinvention… a topic for a future essay…