Subject: Kids in Lojban (was: Women in Lojban

From: Invent Yourself <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2001 10:02:55 -0400 (EDT)

On Sun, 2 Sep 2001, Richard Curnow wrote:

> My daughter is 15 months old, and hasn't uttered a convincing word of
> English yet, let along Lojban!
>
> My son is 3 years old. I don't think I've ever had enough spoken
> fluency in Lojban to make a viable attempt at teaching it to him. Also,
> I'm afraid I haven't the conviction to risk turning him into the subject
> of a "social experiment" if it all goes horribly wrong in some way! I
> think it's fine for an adult to have unusual interests and to have to
> defend that fact amongst his/her peer group, but I don't know whether
> it's such a good idea to inflict unusual interests and capabilities on a
> pre-schooler who hasn't got any say in the matter (bullying etc being
> what it is.)

If the child can speak proper English I don't see why a second language
would cause any social difficulties! If we believe Lojban can promote
better (or different, and competing) thinking styles, it behooves all
parents to try to give their child this added advantage as soon as
possible. We know that complexity is harder for children to learn than
simplicity, and Lojban's clear treatment of such issues as the distinction
between inclusive and exclusive or should give young minds an easier tool
for learning the building blocks of abstract thought.

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"We should destroy the Muslims' homes while leaving the Christians'
homes alone." -- Rehavam Zeevi, Israeli Tourism Minister