Early History of Bilingual Ed

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andrewgessman
Posts: 27
Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2011 6:31 pm

Early History of Bilingual Ed

Post by andrewgessman » Fri Dec 23, 2011 1:52 am

Everyone can agree that the initial contact between Europeans and native inhabitants of the Americas was disastrous... Columbus, Cortes, Pizarro, and then the tiniest but nastiest Consquistador of them all - the smallpox virus. Yet it is somewhat heartening to know that in those darkest of days that marked the beginning of European settlement, the one twinkle of silver lining came in the form of a relatively enlightened educational policy spearheaded by the Jesuits. Not to condone everything the Jesuits did - far from it - but it’s amazing to learn that the Jesuits were eager to learn the natives‘ languages and used bilingual education from the get go. Many of the Jesuits worked hard and risked a great deal to halt the violence of the Conquistadors, and appealed to the king and queen of Spain on behalf of the natives’ essential human rights. It is interesting that Bilingual Education was the original precedent for language education in the Americas.

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