1 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Hi guys. 2 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 (sigh) 3 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 This is a response to my video "Les consequences du Francais en Haiti" 4 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 which I did it in French talking about the consequences of French in Haiti. 5 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I published this in April and I have the link to it up here and down there 6 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in my description box. 7 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I got some really strong reactions to that post and it seems like I really hit a 8 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 nerve for some people so I'm dedicating this week's message to response and debunk 9 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the prevalent counter arguments I received 10 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Here are the main points I made in that video: 11 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 "French hinders comunication in self-expression among Haitians 12 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 It divides the Haitian population and fosters an inferiority complex for the 13 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 majority of the population. 14 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Haitions sustitute someone's ability to muster a few words in French for wisdom or 15 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 intelligence.Haitions fail to realize that what they are seeing is more important 16 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 than the language they used to say in. 17 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And lastly, Haitians by and large cannot speak French. 18 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 These are fairly common and well-known issues I presented to support my proposal 19 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of eliminating French as one of the two official languages of Haiti. 20 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 But many didn't want to hear it and here are some of the responses that I want to 21 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 address. 22 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 The first one is that the problem of Haiti is one of education not of language. 23 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Here is my issue with that point. 24 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Everyone knows that the state of education in Haiti is dire, that has always been the 25 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 case in Haiti but have you stopped to think that language is the basis of 26 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 learning and education, so if you are attempting to teach in a language that is 27 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 cumbersome, unnatural and foreign to kids then you keep them at a disadvantage. 28 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 The medium that allows you to communicate the knowledge you are attempting to pass 29 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 on is extremely relevant. 30 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 My experience as a student in Haiti was that many of my teachers were not fluent 31 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in French, far from. 32 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So yes, there is an educational crisis in Haiti and this isn't breaking news to 33 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 anyone. But the fact that we are insisting on sticking to French as the academic 34 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 language is to our own detriment. 35 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 It is pedagogically impractical and frankly at this point pretty irresponsible 36 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 The other thing people say that kind of goes along with the lack of education 37 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 argument is that well, we shouldn't just limit our kids to Creole we should teach 38 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 them French, Spanish, German, Italian, everything. 39 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Ok, well, do I want our kids to learn multiple languages? 40 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Of course. 41 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I would like every little Haitian out there to know as many languages as the 42 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 human brain can retain and my argument has never been to eradicate French from 43 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Haitian schools but rather to repeal its status as an official language of the 44 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of Haiti and instead prioritize Creole which is the language that every last 45 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Haitian speaks. 46 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Luxembourg has 3 official languages. 47 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 One of them I'm sure most of people have never heard of, it's called Luxembourgish 48 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and it is the language that is indigenous to its people, the language of the heart 49 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 for them so to speak. 50 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Even though, not many people outside of Luxembourg use it, that is the language 51 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that kids are taught in the first year of primary school before switching to German 52 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and then French. 53 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And proficiency and all three of their official languages is required for 54 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 graduation from secondary school. 55 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Now as you can see they are somehow able to pull off a 56 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 trilingual educational system to go along with the fact that they have 3 offical 57 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 languages meaning their important legislature, and official national affairs 58 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 are recorded and reported steadily in all 3 of these languages,