DEAR SIR,
IT is not often that I find myself in agreement with Jason Moore, but I felt that his editorial, Education, on Saturday 9 October was most pertinent and apposite. The issue of Catalan predominance on an island, heavily reliant on tourism, seems both short-sighted and even self-destructive.
I had always understood that schools on Majorca taught in a more or less equal mixture of Castillano, Catalan and English. As a retired university educator, I have been full of admiration for the tri-lingualism with which the education system equipped its future generations, providing them with a positive advantage in the competitive European job market. If, as Jason Moore now seems to assert, this broad and balanced linguistic curriculum is under threat from Catalan nationalism, it can only be a cause of regret and some urgent questioning of the political motives of those responsible.
Of course, it is vital that young people in Majorca learn to read and speak Catalan/Mallorquín, and to understand and value the rich culture and history of this remarkable island. But, to do that at the expense of a wider fluency in other key, international languages is to condemn the young to a future bounded by the narrow reaches of Catalonia. I have noted, with some astonishment, the number of official publications relating to cultural events in Palma which only ever appear in Catalan. The current Manolo Valdés exhibition at the Sa Nostra cultural centre, for example, only has information about the works in Catalan. It was a matter of some amusement, some years ago, that notices in Barcelona's Cathedral were only written in Catalan, English and Latin! But there is a much more serious point to be made about this disjointure from Castillano Spanish and the rest of Spain, especially when the eduction of young people, becomes part of a nationalistic, political battle.
The educational possibilities for future generations should be beyond that inward-looking agenda, so that the young can be adequately equipped for adult life in the wider world of the 21st century.
Yours sincerely
Brian Roberts
Palma