Speak English? Why?
link New London Graduation Requirement: Speak English | NBC Connecticut.
Yet another intrusion into the liberties guaranteed to all people. In a free country, why aren’t people allowed to try to communicate in a series of clicks, pops and grunts? To be required to submit to some arbitrary state sponsored threshold of language competence is oppression and surely, some lawyers will be jumping on it soon. Perhaps the quaint notion of being able to speak and read a common language to belong to a society is obsolete. It’s a bit specious to argue that one needs an education to get ahead these days.
How many rap stars can brag about their lofty education, or of being even vaguely articulate for that matter? All that is needed is to be able to hear when two words rhyme, content is secondary. If you can find some rhyming words for ‘other trucker’ or ‘yo’, you’re in business. Somehow, these artistes are able to command adulation, fame and of course, big incomes. Heck, they can hire people to read and speak for them. In fact, their lyrical bon mots will be quoted by kids everywhere and spread as sage utterances. Who knows, they may even be invited to the White House for a reading. Ironically, people who are educated, will be quoting them!
Or what about ‘athletes’? Given a choice between worrying about a language proficiency level or honing their craft in manipulating a ball, which will ultimately lead to the aforementioned life of adulation, fame and big incomes, why would anyone pick opening a book? Nobody buys tickets to someone reading Chaucer. The average ‘educated’ person works hard to live an average life, but spends big money to watch the exploits of uneducated athletes, buy the recordings of inarticulate singers and to watch the films of dumb actors who happened to have been blessed with good looks in life’s lottery.
Maybe it’s time to rethink the entire notion of mandatory education. Of course it would be available and accessible to all who want it, but for those who think that life has other paths for them to follow, let them be. Over time, those that aspire to education to improve their position in life will do so and those that want to be rappers, ball players and jugglers will also pursue their life’s calling. Maybe the one size fits all education regime doesn’t work. Interestingly, in an unrelated development, McDonald’s just announced their intent to phase out customer service people with touchscreen pads. Therefore, one doesn’t even have to be able to speak a language to order food, just be able to recognize it on the monitor and point to it. These guys are way ahead of the curve. On the other hand, without an education, one may not even be able to work at McDonald’s anymore.