I wonder if this would be true for Native languages

[Rudy Troike]

I agree with James Crippen's concerns about highly endangered languages:

"There's a dangerous temptation to somehow make schooling into the
saviour for highly endangered languages. ... Depending solely on
education institutions to solve language decline just seems to make
things worse, not better, because it encourages people to *not* take
an active role in keeping the language alive."

As I noted in a subsequent post, the Navajo bilingual program at Rock
Point, before it declined, demonstrated that for a Native language,
it IS possible to develop a thorough K-12 curriculum which matches
the English curriculum (but includes native cultural and historical
content, and even in math is sensitive to linguistic features of the
language differing from or lacking in English). Where there are enough
speakers to support the effort, it could be possible in communities
like the Dakota to restore the level of literacy which once existed --
though the window of opportunity is rapidly closing down.

But as James said, this cannot be carried just by the schools, since
real language learning begins in the home and in interpersonal inter-
action. However, thanks to the tradition of government and parochial
schooling, many if not most parents are unable to provide that 'home
nest' for the child. That is why a community effort like that in New
Zealand and Hawaii, to place young children with older fluent speakers
in 'nests' or day-care centers (better yet, for a whole summer) can
be effective in establishing early natural (not formally instructed)
acquisition, which can then be brought to school and reinforced. A
holistic plan is needed which involves more than just individual
families.

One of the perennial problems in Native language maintenance is that
'higher-level' academic competence is non-existent, and community
members and students perceive that there is 'no use' in learning the
language since it has no further 'marketplace' value. Attitudes thus
play an enormous role both in the perspective of the community and of
students. Developing literacy in the Native language is empowering,
and even at advanced (high school and college) levels, if academically
advanced materials are developed, parallel literacy is possible. This
is what the Rock Point program spectacularly demonstrated, and is
showing some effect in Cherokee in Oklahoma as well.

The use of Native languages in schools has, as the new Colorado law has
shown, given institutional recognition to these languages and brought
Native language speakers into the school setting for the first time.
So it is not just an either/or situation -- meaningful school instruction
can provide a mooring-post for communities and families to rally around.

Communities, families, and individuals must ultimately take primary
responsibility for language maintenance and preservation. It can't,
as James says, just be pushed off to schools to somehow magically
accomplish alone. Without motivation, buy-in, and active participation,
endangered languages cannot survive on their own.

  Rudy Troike