Mother tongue education Essay Example for Free

Mother tongue education Essay Mercator International Symposium: Europe 2004: A new framework for all languages? The right to mother tongue medium education-the hot potato in human rights instruments Address by Dr. Tove Skutnabb-Kangas in Opening Plenary As long as we have the language, we have the culture. As long as we have the culture, we can hold on to the land. (pg. 1) In an article called Justice for sale. International law favours market values, Mireille DelmasMarty (2003) discusses the danger in the conflict between legal concepts based on, on the one hand, universal market values , on the other hand, genuinely universal non -market values. The genuinely universal non -market values obviously include individual and collective human rights, as a part of the universal common heritage of humanity. Even if philosophy of both human rights law and philosophically oriented parts of political science now start accepting that there shouldbe normative rights in relation to at least some parts of this heritage (in their terminology common public assets), the legal protection of market values is incommensurably stronger than the protection of non-market values. DelmasMarty exemplifies this with the fact that there is no universal international court that individuals could turn to when their (non -market value based) human rights have been violated. Individual rights are entirely a matter for states, and reports are the only form of monitoring (ibid. ). And if this monitoring, which I have exemplified with the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention, does not support educational linguistic human rights strongly, there is a problem. On the other hand, laws based on market values are being spread by more or less global organizations like the WTO (World Trade Organisation) and, it seems to me, even more dangerously, WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organisation) 25. These laws are being developed extremely rapidly, with harsh sanctions for violations. -(pg. 13) Economist Francois Grin offers through his discussion of market failure in his book about the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (2003b) excellent arguments for resisting market dominance for public or common assets/goods like cultural products: â€Å"Even mainstream economics acknowledge that there are some cases where the market is not enough. These cases are called market failure. When there is market failure, the unregulated interplay of supply and demand results in an ina ppropriate level of production of some commodity† (Grin 2003b: 35). In Grins view, many public goods, including minority language protection, are typically under supplied by market forces (ibid. ). The level becomes inappropriately low. Therefore it is the duty of the state(s) to take extra measures to increase it. (pg. 14) Each language reflects a unique world- view and culture complex, mirroring the manner in which a speech community has resolved its problems in dealing with the world, and has formulated its thinking, its system of philosophy and understanding of the world around it. In this, each language is the means of expression of the intangible cultural heritage of people, and it remains a reflection of this culture for some time even after the culture which underlies it decays and crumbles, often under the impact of an intrusive, powerful, usually metropolitan, different culture. However, with the death and disappearance of such a language, an irreplaceable unit in our knowledge and understanding of human thought and world- view is lost forever. (Wurm, ed. 2001: 13). (pg. 17) As long as a numerically small mother tongue does not give you a better job with a higher salary than shifting to a numerically and politically more powerful language, there are, according to thisway of arguing, few arguments to maintain these mother tongues (and bilingualism is often not considered as a real option; the thinking here is often either/or). (pg. 18) I have earlier (Skutnabb -Kangas in press e) claimed that most of these arguments are presented by researchers who tend to write in English and be native speakers of one of the numerically big languages themselves, often English. This does not necessarily mean that they are monolingual themselves, and many of them are global research nomads, holding jobs all over the world, often making the usual rounds in rapid succession, from Britain or USA or Canada to Sydney or Singapore or Hongkong, etc. This means that these researchers have mostly never experienced that their own dominant language has bee n threatened. It seems that many dominant language speakers are much less aware than dominated language speakers of the non -market values of their ownlanguages, and, consequently, of other peoples own languages. At the same time, they are often not aware (or do not want to be aware) of the market benefits that they themselves have access to because of being speakers of dominant languages. Often they take both these benefits and the fact that others are learning their language in a non -reciprocal way, for granted, and are not willing to in any way compensate speakers of dominated languages for these non -earned benefits; they are linguistic free-riders as Philippe van Parijs puts it (2003: 167). This compensation would obviously be fair, even in terms of thetypes of justice that many lawyers accept. Several researchers have started discussing issues in these economic compensation terms (e. g. Grin 2003b, 2004, van Parijs 2003). (pg. 19) Another partially overlapping distinction, also made by Grin (e. g. 2003b: 24-27), can be used to bridge the gap betwe en social market value and non -market value arguments. In describing arguments used to answer the question why anybody, including society as a whole, should bother about maintaining (minority) languages, Grin differentiates between moral considerations arguments and welfare considerations arguments . Most of the legal discourse, including the linguistic human rights considerations, refer to norms about the right tolive in ones own language, even if the extent of the ensuing rights is debated (ibid. : 24- 25). In contrast, the emphasis of the welfare based argument is not on whether something is morally good or bad, but on whether resources are appropriately allocated. The test of an appropriate allocation of resources is whether society is better off as a result of a policy . (pg. 20) Moral or political principles, even if they are sometimes described as human rights, are not necessarily part of internationallaw. They are things that governments should do, if they are nice, not something they must do. Being nice is not a very convincing argument and is less persuasive than rights and freedoms that have the weight of the law behind them. (pg. 20)

The Stanley Cup and Online Communities :: Internet Web Essays

The Stanley Cup and Online Communities What I Know, Assume, or Imagine I will start off by giving a bit of background as to why I chose this particular topic. I consider myself an amateur in online communities, and in particular chat rooms. I have always considered chat rooms places people with no friends can go. I have plenty of friends, so I never really saw the need to chat. The few times I have gone into chat rooms, they are usually sport related. The problem I have found is that the conversation is usually on everything except sports. I still feel this way. The first part of my hypothesis is that chat rooms don't always stick to the subject. I am a huge hockey fan, and consider myself somewhat of an expert in certain areas. This is why I chose the Stanley Cup as my topic for my I-search. I think that combining something I feel I have good knowledge of with the Internet will help me weed out the facts from fiction. Here are some things I know about hockey. The Stanley Cup is the oldest trophy in North American Sports. It gets passed from team to team, unlike some other trophies. In the NHL, the players play for the Cup, not for the championship ring, or the championship itself. The winning team gets it's names on the Cup for all time and each player gets to spend a couple of days with the Cup over the summer. The hall of fame provides a "Cup Keeper" whose job is to stay with the cup at all times. Most hockey players in the US and Canada have dreamt of hoisting the Cup since they first put on skates. (Simon) As you can see, I am very passionate about the Cup, and could write my whole paper on its rich history, which began in the late 1800's. I am sure there are other people like me on the Internet, so my goal is to find them. I will try to use message boards as well as chat rooms. I plan to ask them about stories they have heard about when the players had the Cup. I imagine I will get better results on message boards, so I will concentrate more on these than the chat rooms. Another assumption I have is that certain teams will be more receptive to answering questions from me.

Big Q

This is shown in the book Lice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll when Alice chases the rabbit down onto a rabbit-hole without giving it any thought Alice Just Jumps right in not thinking about the consequences â€Å"In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out† (Carroll 20). Another example of instinct overcoming rational thought is found in Milan, a Disney movie about a girl who goes and fights for her injured father in a war that he would most likely not have survived in.In a specific scene she sees her father and grandmother arguing through the window and from that point is determined to do anything to keep her father from owing back into action (Walt Disney Pictures 1998). Milan does it because she loves her father and wants to make her family proud by saving him from having to fight again. Her instincts make her very emotional and lead to her becoming a warrior and bringing Joy to her family. Most people act first and think later causing emotion to overpower their logic. Secondly, emotion prevails over reason because it is more heart-felt and sentimental.The book A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens contains various quotes that help to connect to emotion. The first quote that relates to the big question is about a man who Just lost his daughter due to the recklessness of the Marquis: â€Å"A tall man in a nightcap had caught up a bundle from among the feet of the horses, and had laid it on the basement of the fountain, and was down in the mud and wet, howling over it like a wild animal. Pardon, Monsieur the Marquis! Said a ragged and submissive man, it is a child. Why does he make that abominable noise? Is it his child? Excuse me, Monsieur the Marquis-it is a pity- yes. â€Å"It is extraordinary to me, said he, that you people cannot take care of yourselves and your hillier. One or the other of you is forever in the way. How do I know what injury you have done my horses? See! G ive him that. He threw out a gold coin for the valet to pick up, and all the heads craned forward that all the eyes might look down at it as it fell. The tall man called out again with a most unearthly cry, DEAD! † (Dickens 115) This quote tells about a man who Just lost his daughter in the blink of an eye and can't control himself, so he Just starts sobbing uncontrollably and crying out like a wild animal.His heart is broken and he has no time to think. All he feels is sorrow and it affects everyone around him. The people around really feel sympathy for this guy and react emotionally as well. They are angry at the Marquis, and they are angry at how they have to live their lives because of the imposing government as well. All of these emotions (angry, somber, and scared) mixed together, also help lead to revolutionary thinking, which is a big part of the book.Another quote that connects the novel to the big question is about the killing of the Marquis: â€Å"It lay back on th e pillow of Monsieur the Marquis. It was like a fine mask, suddenly startled, made angry, and petrified. Driven home into the heart of the stone figure attached to it was a knife. Round its hilt was a frill of paper, on which was scrawled: Drive him fast to his tomb. This, from Jacques. † (Dickens 252) This quote is about the killing of the Monsieur the Marquis and it helps to reinforce the argument. Sentiment is shown in the quote by how personalized the killing was made out to be.The Marquis was stabbed straight in the heart and there was a letter signed by the killer â€Å"Jacques†, an anonymous name used by many evolutionarily used to keep the identities secret, but also used to show that they all had one goal or one purpose in mind. It emotionally bonded all the revolutionaries together showing unity. Another source that connects to emotion is a British television show called Sherlock. As the title gives away, the show retells the story of Sherlock Holmes in modern times. Sherlock is the most rational, logical, and mostly sane person of all time, but even he succumbs to his emotions at times.He falls in love with a spy/ enemy informant and she gets sent to a terrible place where she will most likely die, but even Sherlock with all of his wisdom cannot stop himself from saving her. He knows it is the wrong thing to do because she lied to him and conned him out of important information, but he cannot help what he feels in his heart. (Gait's 2010) Lastly, emotion is stronger than reason because it is irrational and spontaneous. The book Lice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll showcases many absurd things and emotions.A doctoral candidate at the University of Texas explains the homes and background of the book and is in agreement, â€Å"the absurdity, even insanity, of the world from the point of view of the innocent. We're all mad here, the Cheshire Cat informs her in their famous exchange. This absurdity is frequently little more than a source of amusement to Alice; many times, though, it is a source of grief. † (Stanley 1999). Alice enters the rabbit hole and from that point on is confronted with crazy experiences that leave her very emotional.Although emotion overpowers logic in most situations, reason may be evident at retain points in time. An example of this would be an argument of an atheist against religion. The atheist believes in facts and what he/she can observe in the universe around him. Atheists do not believe in having a blind faith towards anything that is not measurable in any humanly way, while religious people are perfectly content with believing that there is some sort of god. A census taken in England in 2011 showed that the numbers of atheists were increasing while the numbers of Christians were decreasing.

Mrs. Dalloway By William Woolf - 1196 Words

In Virginia Woolf’s novel Mrs. Dalloway, Peter Walsh serves as the focalizer for a good portion of the novel. It is through his eyes that we see Woolf’s critiques of the British middle class notions of propriety, success, and proper gender roles. Peter Walsh’s thoughts and observations of Clarissa Dalloway, Sally Seton and Richard Dalloway are all used to justify Woolf’s critics on societies pressures that cause people to become dependent on others to validate their place in society, lose who they are and what they stand for in order to fit societies idea of women, as well as question their masculinity because societal pressures force the association of success with characteristics of masculinity. It is Peter’s 5- year stay in India that†¦show more content†¦Peter talks of a radical Clarissa Dalloway who existed before his departure for India who would not care if people saw her as a member of upper class society. Choosing to have Peter not ice such a minor detail about Mrs. Dalloway is one attempt of Woolf to criticize this idea of one becoming dependent on other peoples perspective of them in British society. Although Peter picks up on Clarissa’s attempt to get him to believe she is now this women of upper class British society, he picks up on her change in speech pattern and word choice which all point at this critique that she puts the desire for Peter and others to believe she was truly a member of the upper class society over her own true independency and beliefs. Woolf’s critiques on the societal pressures that force women to conform to societies ideal gender role of women are another thing she uses Peter Walsh to expose. Peter’s critical ways with Clarissa Dalloway causes him to expose her conformity to societies idea of a woman. Calling her the â€Å"perfect hostess†, Peter is calling out Clarissa’s new role as just someone who throws parties hinting at the idea that she has no other purpose to society other than to be the wife of Richard Dalloway (Woolf 7). While present at Clarissa’s party Peter realizes that â€Å"these parties were all for [Richard Dalloway]† and she has become