Foreign languages ​​in class: Kretschmann's controversial proposal causes excitement!

Foreign languages ​​in class: Kretschmann's controversial proposal causes excitement!

Stuttgart, Deutschland - Winfried Kretschmann, the Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg, causes excitement with his controversial statement: he no longer considers a second foreign language to be necessary for students! At a recent media congress in Stuttgart, he explained that modern technologies such as translation devices made the effort of language learning superfluous. "I put a button in the ear and translated my phone - whether my counterpart speaks Spanish, Polish or Kisuaheli," said Kretschmann, stating that the subject of foreign language was replaced with "digital media literacy". This proposal met with violent criticism, especially educational experts and teacher associations. The ex-president of the teacher association, Heinz-Peter Meidinger, described the idea as "horrific" and warned against underestimating the educational value of the language learning, as he was on merkur.de emphasized.

criticism of educational experts

The Philologists' Association is also horrified by Kretschmann's proposal. The state chair, Martina Scherer, expressed: "It is far too short to simply give all your own skills to 'Die Ki'." According to her, learning a second foreign language is not only a question of communication, but also of cultural identity and intercultural understanding. She warned that a waiver of the second foreign language could get the German schools behind when it comes to dealing with multilingual and competent dealing with other cultures. The GEW educational union agreed to this perspective and criticized that such proposals send a wrong signal for schools and existing school partnerships, such as News4Teachers reported.