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0 pointsSpooky234y ago0 comments

English is the language of commerce and government. My fluency in Tagalog is great, but has minimal impact outside of a small community. Even if you speak a different language at home, school is primary taught in English with exceptions for Spanish or other languages in some regions.

My dad taught English at a community college a decade ago, mostly to soldiers returning from the war. They were mostly smart, motivated people determined to succeed and facing many obstacles. It was shocking to him that they were writing 5 page essays for the first time as 20-something college students.

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orwin4y ago

I think we as a society just don't believe enough in the learning capacity of adults. I've recently taught my sister (24, ex-chef) all my highschool math (i was in a reinforced math class) plus analysis 101 in the span of two weekends. It was good enough that she now is in the better half or her college math class, full of 18 years old who just finished HS (and most of them with reinforced math options). My best friend learned spanish in less than three month at 27.

A corollary to this observation (adults, or a least young adults, can learn really fast, and even faster than adolescents) is that we need more formation options for adults. You should be able to leave school at 14, work a trade, then stop in your 20s to integrate college and learn something new. And college could be a more open place with ex-plumber, ex-cooks and ex-electricians in it. The best software engineer my age i worked with worked on HT lines for 3 years.

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