spyczech t1_iyc1waw wrote
The banning of a language in a school just shouldn't happen period in a free and democratic country. It was wrong when Russians ban Ukranian in schools and its also wrong (probably less wrong considering but still) to ban russian in schools where native russian speakers exist (as a non-zero amount do in Lithuania)
TROPtastic t1_iyc8uvp wrote
This is not a ban: this is the government deciding that they aren't going to fund Russian 2nd language teaching with limited funds and school hours. Students will still be free to speak Russian to each other.
spyczech t1_iyc9502 wrote
Okay that is an important distinction, thanks for the clarification. It still rings a little icky, but yeah thats a very different situation.
I think it could deprive those kids of economic prospects or the ability to learn fluency to say comminucate at family gatherings but that is a much subtler critique
TROPtastic t1_iye3ex1 wrote
Thanks to Putin, the economic reasons to learn Russian have evaporated. Learning it for conversation with family is still important for some people, but I would imagine that Russian language tutoring (which still exists in Lithuania) would be a faster and more efficient way to get conversational fluency than several years of school classes.
LewisLightning t1_iyc9k84 wrote
It's not the language they have an issue with, but the Russian policy of using force to defend Russian speaking people in foreign nations. If a large enough portion of their population speaks Russian Lithuania could potentially be attacked by Russia on such absurd grounds.
Jud1_n t1_iycbd6a wrote
Russia could in theory attack anyway justifying supression and ethnic cleansing of ethnic minorities in Lithuania.
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That aside, Lithuania is a member of NATO and Russia is being busy losing to Ukraine. Kinda doubt Lithuania at this point has any reason to fear an invasion.
spyczech t1_iycbhgz wrote
Sure, but its an unfair collective punishment against those Russian speakers in lithuania for the actions of a state for which they have NO CONTROL. Kids who might of gotten a minor or major in Russian later on in life are going to miss out on opportunities in their personal lives all due to the fact the languge they are interested in happens to be used by an ugly state actor
In other words, they are taking out the fear of a possible Russian invasion out on their own citizens by depriving them of the substantial econimical socetial and familial benefits a second language can do
Gotisdabest t1_iyccmk1 wrote
Then everything is unfair. The fact that the same funds also don't go to creating more opportunities for kids to learn more directly useful languages such as English is also unfair.
SexySaruman t1_iycjq9a wrote
Why isn't Russian thought in USA as a 2nd language. Sounds like ethnic cleansing according to you.
Russian isn't banned, that is a lie. Schools just won't be paying for a useless 3rd language.
lithuanian_potatfan t1_iycqzu2 wrote
2nd foreign language options in my school were German, French, and Russian. (1st foreign language is English). My parents made me choose russian and I regretted it ever since. Especially that it's useless for me other than see war reports in their language and understanding just how fucked up their general population is. Meanwhile some of my classmates who picked French ended up studying in France. My half-sister is Belarusian and she picked russian as a 2nd foreign language because she already spoke it and it was an easy way to get good grades with minimal effort. Also, Russian schools where all subjects except for Lithuanian and English are taught in russian exist with no plans to close them. So what are your reasons to keep teaching it in Lithuanian schools? To make more kids lazy or miserable?
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