LL-L "Education" 2012.09.12 (02) [EN]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L - 12 September 2012 - Volume 02
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From: Hellinckx Luc luc.hellinckx at gmail.com
Subject: LL-L "Education"

Beste Ingmar,

You wrote:

Interesting. I wonder though why 44% of the (Belgian) readers found this
news 'depressing' and only 28% heart-warming... Are the Dutch still hated
so much by the Flemish?   Ingmar


Definitely not, the situation has improved, compared with a couple of
decades ago. However, some probably fear that the very reason why Belgian
schools have a fairly good reputation (being relatively strict) is now
under threat, because of a growing influx of (often more opinionated) Dutch
students. Mind you, this is not my point of view, the survey merely
reflects the mindset of its own readership, which in the case of "Het
Laatste Nieuws" is predominantly liberal. What "liberal" stands for in
Belgium is another matter...people sometimes speak of "dark blue" and
"light blue" which then coincides with a more conservative or a more
progressive wing.

Kind greetings,

Luc Hellinckx, Halle, Belgium

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From: Luc Vanbrabant lucv32 at gmail.com
Subject: LL-L "Education" 2012.09.11 (02) [EN-NL]

On facebook: 148.965 persons like this.
So the problem is not that big. 29% find it heart-warming. Ok: but Flemings
first look at their money and some of them might be afraid of paying more
taxes!

Groetjes,
Luc Vanbrabant
Oekene

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Education

A while back there was talk about many Germans sending their children to
Danish schools because of the supposed excellence of the Danish education
system.

Is that still going on?

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
Seattle, USA

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From: Edwin Alexander edsells at cogeco.ca
Subject: LL-L "Education" 2012.09.11 (02) [EN-NL]

On 12/09/2012 1:22 AM, Roger wrote:

 There is a strong increase of Dutch kids being registered transborder in
> Belgian primary and middle schools.(cf. URL below)
> Same holds at the French-Walloon border.
> Is there a similar transborder exchange at the US-Canadian border?
>

Not at all.  The real issues here are internal to Quebec, which has just
elected another "separatist" provincial government.  Right now, there is no
chance that a referendum for separation would succeed, but people, so I'm
told, were fed up with the previous government, which had suffered a number
of scandals during its long tenure.  Nonetheless, the new government is
saying that they will further restrict French speaking citizens from
attending English speaking educational institutions.  You can well
understand the desire for the Quebecois to receive an English education as
this is a global phenomenon, so you may see an increase in people sending
their kids to boarding school in the US if they can afford it.

We hear of a lot about xenophobia in the US, with pushback of the Spanish
language everywhere.  Not to fear:  apparently the very popular mayor of
San Antonio, Texas, Julian Castro, who gave the keynote address at the
Democratic National Convention, only knows a few words in the language of
his parents.

It also appears that many major native languages in Canada are doomed.  I
have been slowly learning Eastern Ojibwe, but it is useless trying my
skills on persons younger than 35.  They are teaching the language in the
schools, but when the kids get home, no one is using the language there.
We were at a local powwow a few weeks ago and I was chatting with a middle
aged person at a booth who was hawking "authentic" ironwood bows that he
had made.  The weather had started to turn chilly a bit, so I said, "wii
gisinaa."  He then said, "you know, I think it's going to get cold."  For
those of you unfamiliar with this language, just pull up a map of the US
and Canada.  All of the native looking place names in Wisconsin, North
Dakota, Saskatchewon, Ontario, Quebec, and the maritime provinces, are from
this language.  The Mississippi, is the mitchi sipi, the great river.

Ed Alexander, Ontario, Canada.

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