Authors
Kendall A King, Alison Mackey
Publication date
2007
Publisher
Collins
Description
One particular view of and response to globalization has centered on competitiveness. New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman (2006, p. 340) has famously called on Americans to “get ready to compete, get every individual to think about how he or she can upgrade his or her educational skills, and keep investing in the secrets of America’s sauce.” Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was only a matter of time when bilingualism was going to be touted as an ingredient in the competitive sauce, as The Bilingual Edge does. The Bilingual Edge is a self-help book for parents who want to raise their children bilingually. In contrast to most other such guides on the market, this book is not exclusively directed at intercultural couples and migrant parents but also at monolingual majority parents who may want to raise their children bilingually. As the authors assert “with the right foundation of knowledge, any parent can raise a child who knows more than one language, even if that parent is monolingual”(p. 20). To me, this is one of a number of baffling premises the book is based on. Surely,“the right foundation of knowledge” includes knowing the language you want to teach your child. Not so. The Bilingual Edge contains numerous anecdotes about people such as Kristen and Miguel:
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