Some time ago I read with much interest a January 9, 2009 post on the U.S. Department of State blog DIPNOTE written by Melvin Hall that was promoting their National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y) program. The NSLI-Y program provides U.S. youth, between the ages of 15 and 18, funding to study Arabic, Farsi, Hindi, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Russian and Turkish overseas for a summer, semester or academic year. While this program is very interesting and worthy of its own blog post I was introduced to the very interesting concept of the “Quiet Game.” In contrast to the “Great Game” which Hall quotes as “the struggle that takes place between states, nations, political groups, and national leaders for power and influence”[1], the “Quite Game” is the “everyday game of life where families get up in the morning, have plans for themselves, their children.”[2] Hall ties the “Quiet Game” nicely to international education exchanges and states that “when we engage in the ‘Quiet Game’ with people from around the world, we take advantage of a wonderful opportunity to learn about their individual aspirations and dreams for their families and children…engaging in the ‘Quiet Game’ with our counterparts from around the world requires commitment –commitment to seek out cross-cultural encounters, commitment to learn someone else’s language, and commitment to live for an extended period of time in another culture.” You can learn more about the “Quiet Game” in A Political Economy of the Middle East (3rd Edition, 2007) by Alan Richards and John Waterbury.
[1] Quote from Djavad Salehi-Isfhani’s discussion during the Brookings Institution November 10, 2008 proceedings on Arab Youth Between Hope and Disillusionment: Toward a New U.S. Strategy in the Middle East, p. 40.
[2] Ibid
Originally posted to IHEC Blog on January 14, 2009
The “Quiet Game” is what parents and others who wish to promote learning through the use of exchange student education does to keep this and other programs alive. Staying out of the politics and just focusing on learning is what it should be about. Our children can learn so much from other cultures if we can figure out a way to have it happen. The course I am taking clearly promotes this and has opened up my eyes to really what is happening around the world.
Pat,
I must agree. I believe that if we move away from the political nature that has seemed to take over education and get back to learning and developing from what other countries are doing, we can get back to developing a world that values education again as they do in eastern civilizations.
The Quiet Game certainly captured my attention. As this is not only directed to our children but for those of us who are continuing our education as well. As we focus on the educational piece with emphasis on how to make this world a better place we should refrain or as stated by many of you stay away from the political aspects. the more we all can learn about the different cultures the better we can understand our differences. Diversity is a word used by many but taking the road of the quiet game one could certainly learn more about the big world’s diversity that truly exists. In addition, we can learn more about each other.
I read an article on students who were taking different languages as a part of their curriculum. What are your thoughts on that?
@Cindy ~ Many thanks for your comments. I’m all for language learning and second (or third or fourth) language acquisition on many levels. My daughter had the choice in third grade to study Spanish, French, German or Chinese. She chose Spanish because of her heritage. My son who is now in first grade at the same school is excited to start Chinese in less than two year.
Second language acquisition is important to the child that has a first language, not only does it allow for additional improvement in the language, but helps in understanding their heritage and culture. On a global perspective, it is an opening in continued education. I am a Spanish speaking student who did not take the opportunity to develop my first language until adult hood. It is great that your children have a choice now and can be placed on the global market in education.
If our children are to effectively survive in a diverse and global economy, they must learn to deal with other cultures. I can see companies in the future having a dire need for bilingual or multilingual employees especially with so much of what we all do becoming international. Those who speak one language can effectively communicate only with people who speak that same language.
David, I agree with Ray, your children are certainly on the cutting edge. Kudos to you for helping them to make such a giant leap.
@Ray and @Cindy ~ Many thanks for your comments. I appreciate you taking the time to comment on this very interesting topic!
Much to my surprise, I have a good friend whose granddaughter is attending a pre-school that is teaches her two foreign languages. Her granddaughter is three. Ironically, since we were discussing children taking foreign languages, we had a deep discussion regarding this topic. What I found interesting was the reason they enrolled her in a foreign language – to help her understand diversity and to see things from a different perspective. They also hoped the language lessons would help her appreciate different heritages since her grandfather is a preacher who travels worldwide. By the way he speaks seven different languages fluently. It was amazing to listen to this three year old. I was told she sings songs and play games to help her comprehend the languages. What is more amazing to me is that she understands the differences in each language. These grandparents stated that they invested in their granddaughter taking different languages so she could have an opportunity to do whatever she wants wherever she wants in this global world which by the way currently exists. They did not want her to bound by a language barrier. I thought this was very interesting since we were having this discussion.