[Foundation-l] Languages and education

[Jimmy (Jimbo) Wales]

This is absolutely fascinating to me.  Just really fascinating.

I think this is the kind of knowledge we have to have, knowledge of
real conditions in real places, in order to be able to help
effectively.

--Jimbo


Anthere wrote:

> Hello,
> 
> First of all, I wish a happy new year to all who may
> be concerned.
> This year, I spent Christmas and New Year Eve in an
> unusual way, since I was in the Sahara desert (south
> of Algeria) for 15 days, as an ecotourist.
> I had a real great time over there, which I will share
> with Wikipedia in trying to improve many articles
> related to the areas  I went to, as well as with many
> pictures.
> 
> However, I wished to share a couple of additional
> things/thoughts with you. About languages and
> education.
> 
> I spent a little while in Tamanrasset, and discussed
> with some of it inhabitants, men and women. It is a
> strange situation, as it cannot be said that people
> are "poor", in the sense that most have the basics
> which allow them to live quite happily. The city is
> growing pretty fast (50 000 unhabitants), but is not
> sustainable for its water, nor for its food, nor for
> most of its industrial goods. Most of it is imported
> from the north of Algeria. The city is essentially
> living from camels, goats and sheep... and tourism in
> the surroundings of course. While the city is shared
> by many ethnies and different nationalities, most
> people over there are muslims. They speak a mixture of
> Tuareg language (tamazight or tamahaq) and some local
> arab which can hardly be recognised by those of us
> French who learned classical arab in France.
> 
> One thing surprised me greatly. I thought the majority
> of Algerians could be said to speak French (since
> Algeria was previously a french colony). Well, I
> discovered over there that if all adults have notions
> of french language, many of them are very very far
> from fluent. I could speak to no kids under 15, even
> though I was told that all of them start learning
> french language at school from the age of 8 (?). So, I
> went for a little check and discovered that according
> to statistics, about 62% of Algerian speak decent
> french (enough for communication), and this number
> have been increasing in the past years.
> 
> Now, Tamanrasset is in the most southern part of
> Algeria, so rather far away from France, though there
> is still obviously strong French influence. People I
> met talked with one another in Tamahaq, talk with
> other Tamanrasset people in a southern arab, speak
> with us in french, and receive education in classical
> arab. Guys ! these people manage roughly 4 languages !
> 
> When France left Algeria, the whole educational system
> was in french language; the algerian government tried
> to switch entirely to classical arab over the years,
> even though there were at that time not enough
> teachers knowledgeable in classical arab, even though
> most Algerians do not manage well classical arab, even
> though there were no educational books in classical
> arab to teach children. Over the years, the government
> has tried to impose more and more classical arab, to
> the dismay of all those speaking berberes languages
> (such as the Touareg). From my friends in Algers, I
> know that university education is still partly in
> french, in particular in scientific and technical
> domains. But from what I understood, the algerian
> educational system is in great part a failure, as it
> is taught in a language that many Algerian do not
> manage well, as it results in diplomas of little value
> on european or american market, and as many students
> end up secondary school with such a poor knowledge in
> french that they are unable to come to french
> universities or even to follow well algerian
> university classes. Possibly, knowing more of english
> language might help but it seems currently limited.
> 
> 
> Two things raised my attention greatly.
> First, a university is currently being built in
> Tamanrasset. For now, students usually go to Algers to
> follow upper studies (about 1500 km away, which
> evidently implies only quite wealthy people can afford
> this).
> 
> 
> Second, as we crossed villages in the mountains, we
> were surrounded by kids, from 6 to 12. Only the eldest
> could really communicate a bit with us. We had some
> pens for them, which we distributed. But it was not
> really what they were looking for. The youngest wanted
> paper mostly. But all asked for books. Only books. Not
> food, nor money, nor sweets, only books. And they
> wanted books in french language. I told them "but you
> can't read french". But this is what they wanted
> nevertheless.
> 
> When I asked to my favorite guide, he told me "they
> learn french at school, a little bit, but they have no
> opportunity to practice. Except for a few tourists,
> who could they talk french to ? At least, with books,
> they can learn a bit".
> 
> I suspect the school probably only has a couple of
> worn out ones. Possibly only a couple of worn out
> books in arab as well.
> I dig a couple of my son books to give them. Not much.
> If I had guessed, it would have been easy to bring a
> few more.
> 
> As I understood, analphabetism is rising over there,
> especially among girls. If the kids do not speak
> french, their access to university is limited. And the
> main economical resource of the area is tourism, most
> tourists being french speaking.
> 
> Computers in these villages is out of question. They
> have electricity but I doubt a computer could survive
> long in such an environment (I spent two hours in the
> local gendarmerie, they have desks, paper, pens and
> sand). However, most of our youngest guides had an
> email adress and went on the net thanks to cybercafes
> in Tamanrasset.
> 
> There might be things to do no ?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 		
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-- 
"La nèfle est un fruit." - first words of 50,000th article on fr.wikipedia.org