Hi Steve,

On Mon, Sep 22, 2008 at 7:42 PM, Steve Kaufmann <steve at thelinguist.com> wrote:

> Language students should be allowed to freely choose what content to learn

> from. There is nothing wrong with making content available to them that

> conforms to the teachers position on various issues. The enthusiasm of the

> teacher can be a source of motivation for the learner. However, I would hope

> that learners are also offered different perspectives on these issues, and a

> chance to choose unrelated content, or even content that represents a

> different point of view to learn from.


Probably, the topics should be chosen carefully to prevent
political, religious, etc. collisions.


>

> From my Russian learning I am aware of the fact that there is a major

> rewrite of history taking place in that country whereby Stalin is described

> as an efficient manager, forced collectivization of the peasants and the

> repressions ( resulting in the loss of millions of lives) were necessary for

> the industrialization of the country and to prepare for war, Russia's

> invasion of Poland was just the liberation of the Western Ukraine, and on

> and on. I am very wary of the state, or other well intentioned groups

> imposing their perspectives on students. This is all the more so if the

> subject is really supposed to be language learning.


I would argue, that the Russians have very different opinions these days.

Teaching a language (as well as any other subjects) MAY involve
an element of polishing some texts, and materials to make them
political correct.


> Steve Kaufmann

> www.lingq.com

> 1-604-922-8514



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Robert Iakobashvili, Ph.D.
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