Using National Schools

Some families have chosen to have their children attend national schools for one or more of the following reasons:

• to learn the national or local language.

• to build relationship with the local people.

• to integrate into and appreciate the national culture.

• to learn some of the academic skills they need.
  
  

At the same time, most families choose to have their children learn to read and write first in their mother tongue. The children may attend a national school for:

• preschool.

• a limited time each day (while continuing home study in the mother tongue.

• a year or two of their schooling career.

• higher academic instruction in the second language after they have the foundational skills in their mother tongue.
  
  

Some of the factors parents consider when they make these choices are:

• the quality of academics available in the national schools.

• the philosophy of instruction and disciplinary methods employed.

• whether that philosophy and approach is acceptable to the parents as they observe its effects on their children.

• how the education received affects the goals parents have for their children’s higher education and identity information.
  
  

Using national schools might be beneficial during some of the years of a child’s schooling career but not during others, depending upon which goals families want to emphasize at different times.

Permission is granted to copy, but not for commercial use.