# English banned for elementary students in Iran **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 7, 2018, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-banned-for-elementary-students-in-iran/806059 "2018-01-07T18:59:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PlaceboTarget](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/placebotarget/32/1073_2.png) [@PlaceboTarget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlaceboTarget)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2018, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-banned-for-elementary-students-in-iran/806059/1 "2018-01-07T18:59:14Z")
[Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/article/iran-english/update-1-iran-bans-english-in-primary-schools-after-leaders-warning-idUSL8N1P20DS) informs that primary schools in Iran can no longer include the English language in their curriculum from now on. The authorities have decided that the control of their citizens’ minds by the West begins with English lessons. The consequence, I think, will be that English will gradually become the language of the elites (just like in India), who will continue to make the best decisions for the faithful majority. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2018, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-banned-for-elementary-students-in-iran/806059/2 "2018-01-07T21:20:10Z")
In the era of Google Translate and Duolingo …well, good luck with that is all I can say. Unless these things are also banned in Iran ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2018, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-banned-for-elementary-students-in-iran/806059/3 "2018-01-08T01:05:49Z")
Oh they are just TOTALLY daring Trump to ban from American grade schools… whatever language is spoken in Iran. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2018, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-banned-for-elementary-students-in-iran/806059/4 "2018-01-08T01:08:48Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > In the era of Google Translate and Duolingo …well, good luck with that is all I can say. Unless these things are also banned in Iran It’s difficult to get around blockers since Iran’s so far away 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2018, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-banned-for-elementary-students-in-iran/806059/5 "2018-01-08T01:25:56Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > Oh they are just TOTALLY daring Trump to ban from American grade schools… whatever language is spoken in Iran. Iran’s official language is Persian. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2018, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-banned-for-elementary-students-in-iran/806059/6 "2018-01-08T01:54:54Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > Iran’s official language is Persian. That’s silly. I’ve heard Iranians talk. They don’t go “Meow! Meow!” ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2018, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-banned-for-elementary-students-in-iran/806059/7 "2018-01-08T05:37:42Z")
I hate to say this…but I care so little about what they do in Iran. We can’t get our shit straight over here. I don’t want to worry about that, too. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2018, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-banned-for-elementary-students-in-iran/806059/8 "2018-01-08T08:30:05Z")
All foreign languages were effectively banned in USA elementary schools until very recently, maybe 20 years. It was pedagogical conventional wisdom that American school children should not be exposed to a foreign language until high school, when they are too old to learn it quickly. I also recall hearing about a California school district that banned any use of Spanish in the school except in the formal classroom study of the language. And I wonder what the US school authorities would say if a school decided to offer Farsi in its third-grade curriculum. There is nothing new under the sun, and Iran has nothing on the US in this respect. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2018, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-banned-for-elementary-students-in-iran/806059/9 "2018-01-08T14:46:16Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > All foreign languages were effectively banned in USA elementary schools until very recently, maybe 20 years. Citation needed. Anecdotally I took Latin and German in school and as I went to school in the US and more than 20 years ago your assertion doesn’t seem to jibe with reality. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2018, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-banned-for-elementary-students-in-iran/806059/10 "2018-01-08T14:52:56Z")
> [@XT](#): > > Citation needed. Anecdotally I took Latin and German in school and as I went to school in the US and more than 20 years ago your assertion doesn’t seem to jibe with reality. I think he meant that it was practically universal that foreign language classes were not offered in US public elementary schools. I had some instruction in Spanish in elementary school, but both times it was at a Catholic School. But I’d be curious about your elementary school-- it really offered German and Latin courses? I say “offered”, but in my schools there were no electives. Everyone took the same courses, which is probably one reason foreign languages weren’t taught. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2018, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-banned-for-elementary-students-in-iran/806059/11 "2018-01-08T15:00:53Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I think he meant that it was practically universal that foreign language classes were not offered in US public elementary schools. I had some instruction in Spanish in elementary school, but both times it was at a Catholic School. But I’d be curious about your elementary school-- it really offered German and Latin courses? I say “offered”, but in my schools there were no electives. Everyone took the same courses, which is probably one reason foreign languages weren’t taught. No, I misread what he was saying…I took both in High School. My bad. I do know that schools in my area offered Spanish in elementary school, and, ironically, I was in a special English class that helped me learn English. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2018, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-banned-for-elementary-students-in-iran/806059/12 "2018-01-08T15:05:58Z")
> [@XT](#): > > No, I misread what he was saying…I took both in High School. My bad. I do know that schools in my area offered Spanish in elementary school, and, ironically, I was in a special English class that helped me learn English. We have some immersion schools here where all the students get instruction in both languages. I think I’ve seen this for Mandarin and Spanish. And of course there is a shit load of bilingual education for kids whose first language is not English. This is CA, after all. I suspect you have a similar situation in NM. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2018, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-banned-for-elementary-students-in-iran/806059/13 "2018-01-08T16:16:16Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > All foreign languages were effectively banned in USA elementary schools until very recently, maybe 20 years. It was pedagogical conventional wisdom that American school children should not be exposed to a foreign language until high school Say what? Where did you get this idea? I was in grade school a lot more than 20 years ago. Both French and Spanish were offered - you had to choose one. ---
**Author:** ![excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e8c25b/32.png) [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/excavating_for_a_mind)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2018, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-banned-for-elementary-students-in-iran/806059/14 "2018-01-08T20:03:31Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > All foreign languages were effectively banned in USA elementary schools until very recently, maybe 20 years. It was pedagogical conventional wisdom that American school children should not be exposed to a foreign language until high school, when they are too old to learn it quickly… This patently false, although there is enough truth in it that it deserves consideration. I was in public elementary school in the USA in the 1960s. I remember being taught Japanese (rather surprising considering we were the tail end of the Baby Boomers, and if the parents of my classmates were not involved in WWII, they clearly had direct relatives who were). Perhaps the intent was to expose us to non-alpha writing systems, I don’t know, but it was taught. However, I do know that in southern Louisiana, for example, the teaching or even speaking French in elementary schools was, at least, discouraged. I don’t know about High School. I got to know enough Cajuns when I lived in Houston that told me about the practice, whose parents spoke French (not just Creole), but they did not. They did speak some Creole, but it was mostly just words here and there that they had picked up and (according to them) could not even begin to understand French. Now, if you want to interpret this as a pedagogical attack on non-English speaking cultures or just a concerted effort to put an end to illiteracy, particularly among a rural population that historically had a low High School graduation rate, well, I guess it really depends on how you look at it. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2018, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-banned-for-elementary-students-in-iran/806059/15 "2018-01-08T20:33:40Z")
In my set of primary/middle/high schools, no foreign languages were offered until high school, where you were could take either French or French (two teachers, randomly assigned, as far as I know.) I think that by my senior year they started offering Spanish, but I might be misremembering that. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-banned-for-elementary-students-in-iran/806059/16 "2018-01-09T01:04:38Z")
> [@XT](#): > > Citation needed. Anecdotally I took Latin and German in school and as I went to school in the US and more than 20 years ago your assertion doesn’t seem to jibe with reality. In elementary school? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-banned-for-elementary-students-in-iran/806059/17 "2018-01-09T01:07:49Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > In my set of primary/middle/high schools, no foreign languages were offered until high school, where you were could take either French or French (two teachers, randomly assigned, as far as I know.) I think that by my senior year they started offering Spanish, but I might be misremembering that. Emphasis added. How did they pronounce “femme”? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-banned-for-elementary-students-in-iran/806059/18 "2018-01-09T01:30:30Z")
My middle school offered a choice of Spanish or French to 8th graders, as did all the other middle schools in my town. Later this was expanded to 7th graders. I finished 8th grade in 1982. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-banned-for-elementary-students-in-iran/806059/19 "2018-01-09T01:42:22Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Emphasis added. How did they pronounce “femme”? 😃 The things I remember from my high school French could be written on le pinhead with la sledgehammer. (Except for what the cover of the textbook looked like–it was [this one](https://www.amazon.com/French-mastery-Jean-Paul-Valette/dp/0669023817/).) ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-banned-for-elementary-students-in-iran/806059/20 "2018-01-09T02:48:08Z")
My sons high school offers arabic as well as chinese, spanish, and french. It would be crazy for Iran to ban english because how can they be expected to work with tourists from english speaking countries or do business with them? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-banned-for-elementary-students-in-iran/806059.md?page=2)