There’s a story in today’s newspaper about Milton Peters College (MPC) starting an English stream for the upcoming academic year. It seems pretty clear that this is related in part to growing
problems among students with Dutch as the current language of instruction, making it a challenge to graduate, also in light of sharpened requirements for such coming from the Netherlands.
With elementary school teachers increasingly using English to better reach their pupils from varied backgrounds, this development should surprise nobody. Some scientists claim children learn Dutch better as a second language once they master their mother tongue, but daily practice doesn’t always seem to indicate that.
The move is therefore understandable, although several local secondary education institutions already offer the Caribbean Examination Council CXC-level exams, while few alternatives with the traditional Dutch system exist. At the same time, the focus when it comes to continued studies abroad is slowly but surely shifting to the region due to several factors.
For example, study financing for the Netherlands is not what it used to be and regards mostly loans rather than grants. If the euro goes up in value relative to the US dollar (and thus the Antillean guilder), paying these back becomes quite expensive as well.
Moreover, the average high school graduate can identify much better with the Americas than with Europe, for obvious reasons. Given a choice of obtaining the same quality education closer to home, many undoubtedly will take it.
However, a word of caution is in order, as it’s very important to maintain an adequate knowledge of Dutch in positions where this is still necessary, including the legal profession and other functions dealing with laws and documents in their original language, also to prevent misinterpretation and things being “lost in translation.” Ensuring that some form of the current HAVO/VWO system is preserved consequently makes all the sense in the world, so as not to throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater.
