the demise of Russian in schools and colleges

[anne marie devlin]

Dear Seelangers,
recently we have seen many stories of attempted closures of Russian departments and even the cessation of Russian as a school exam subject.  However, I would just like to draw your attention to a recent article in which our Minister for Education here in Ireland calls for an increase in the teaching of languages such as Russian which could lead to economic development.  It is rare to find such a call in a world which is increasingly concerned with short term financial gains which could be experienced with the closing of less popular language departments.  Although as language specialists we should be alarmed at his ruminations on relaxing the foreign language requirement for university entrance, he at least makes up for it by targetting languages which could be beneficial.  I never expected to praise a minister, but congratualtions Ruairi Quinn.  The link to the article is below.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2011/0528/1224297923895.html
 
AM 		 	   		  
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