Vojvodina preschools teach in six languages

I challenge any country in the world to find some preschool or any school for that matter offering education in that many languages. And some people still claim that Serbia has no tolerance for its minorities and that those minorities have no any rights in Serbia. Well, I would like to see other countries dealing with so many minorities.

The fact that Rusyn is one of the six languages is telling: it is only in Vojvodina where the Carpathian Rusyns have been able to use their own language continuously. Bravo Vojvodina! I look forward to visiting it real soon!

bmrusila,

Your bregging about education in those 6 languages doesn't make sense for the following reasons:
- The Serbs don't do it out of love for the minorities but out of requirement, meaning the parents of those minority children want it that way.
- If the minorities would like to send their children to Serbian schools only that would be more than OK with all Serbs.
- The fact that they are so many minorities in Vojvodina is not the result of immigration to Yougoslavia after 1920 but the result of earlier migrations in Austria-Hungary. Once the Turks were pushed out of Vojvodina, which was part of Hungary, large areas of fertile Backa-Banat were quasi depopulated. Germans, Slovaks, Russins and Serbs were brought to areas previously populated by Hungarians.
As for the US there is a basic difference with Europe:
The schools are not financed by the Federal Government. They are the responsibility of local communities. Those communities collect school tax from their residents, from home owners to maintain/finance their "public" schools. Those taxes (pretty high) are even collected from people, who don't have children. Their are also religious "private" schools. Those can be quite expensive. If you send your children to a private school you still have to pay the school tax.
If in an area there are only 1 or 2 Hungarians, Slovaks, Serbs, Italians..etc how do you want the school to hire and pay teachers for all those languages? There are a lot of additional considerations and my comment is already getting long.
-

Joe,

Serbia is obliged to povide this education for its minorities. I would not call it love but the respect. On the other hand, why would not we call it even love. I think that Serbs cherish own minorities and at least I see them as our perl. I never mentioned that our minorities migrated into Serbia or Yugoslavia after 20's. They have lived in Vojvodina way before that. And for the end, you see Serbia still do care and do something to improve the position of its minorities and you should not deny this fact Joe.

bmrusila,

The reason is very simple. You don't even need a high school diploma to understand it. In most countries with minorities there are simply not as many minorities like in Vojvodina. Take Italy..they have Germans in South Tirol and few French close to France. Austria: some Croatians and Hungarians.
Slovakia: Hungarians and Gypsies. Finland: some Swedes.
Hungary: some Slovaks, Rumanians, Serbs, Croates, Germans.
You have a university diploma a and traveled extensively in Europe. How is it possible that you did not notice all this?

Joe,

Whats your point? Many countries do have minorities but do they introduce education in that many languagaes at schools? I will tell you, No, they don't. Take Finland as an example where the swedish language is second official after finnish. Students do learn SWEDISH but they are not really obliged to know that language. In western cost populated by Swedish majority swedish language is official. But don't forget that there are many Russians living in Finland but still have no status of minority, let alone education in their own language. So, please when you find me a country in this world offering education in so many languages do not hesitate to inform me. You live in USA and I am sure that the only language in use overthere is English even though there are so many nations living in the USA.

Just wanted to clarify: With curriculum in six languages, does this mean that every class will be taught in it's separate language? And through which levels can students enjoy this?

bmrusila, the walls around castles and citys were not build because it was nice looking but because of fear. The schools are not teaching in those many languages because the Serbian order came from the top, but to avoid lots of complications that started with the break of the old Yugoslavia. Slovakian Croatian and Serbian is hardly an accent change. With the current policy Macedonian Bosnian and Montenegrin will be introduced there soon.

The U.S. doesn't do this with all its ethnicities. You do not see Hungarian, German, Italian, French, Danish, etc. schools in America. Further the U.S. has not one non-English University among its 300 million inhabitants.

The U.S. pushes one thing for itself but expects more from other poorer countries.

The U.S. is just a major hypocrite, bully and meddler.

bmrusila, the walls around castles and citys were not build because it was nice looking but because of fear. The schools are not teaching in those many languages because the Serbian order came from the top, but to avoid lots of complications that started with the break of the old Yugoslavia. Slovakian Croatian and Serbian is hardly an accent change. With the current policy Macedonian Bosnian and Montenegrin will be introduced there soon.

bmrusila,

The reason is very simple. You don't even need a high school diploma to understand it. In most countries with minorities there are simply not as many minorities like in Vojvodina. Take Italy..they have Germans in South Tirol and few French close to France. Austria: some Croatians and Hungarians.
Slovakia: Hungarians and Gypsies. Finland: some Swedes.
Hungary: some Slovaks, Rumanians, Serbs, Croates, Germans.
You have a university diploma a and traveled extensively in Europe. How is it possible that you did not notice all this?

The fact that Rusyn is one of the six languages is telling: it is only in Vojvodina where the Carpathian Rusyns have been able to use their own language continuously. Bravo Vojvodina! I look forward to visiting it real soon!

bmrusila,

Your bregging about education in those 6 languages doesn't make sense for the following reasons:
- The Serbs don't do it out of love for the minorities but out of requirement, meaning the parents of those minority children want it that way.
- If the minorities would like to send their children to Serbian schools only that would be more than OK with all Serbs.
- The fact that they are so many minorities in Vojvodina is not the result of immigration to Yougoslavia after 1920 but the result of earlier migrations in Austria-Hungary. Once the Turks were pushed out of Vojvodina, which was part of Hungary, large areas of fertile Backa-Banat were quasi depopulated. Germans, Slovaks, Russins and Serbs were brought to areas previously populated by Hungarians.
As for the US there is a basic difference with Europe:
The schools are not financed by the Federal Government. They are the responsibility of local communities. Those communities collect school tax from their residents, from home owners to maintain/finance their "public" schools. Those taxes (pretty high) are even collected from people, who don't have children. Their are also religious "private" schools. Those can be quite expensive. If you send your children to a private school you still have to pay the school tax.
If in an area there are only 1 or 2 Hungarians, Slovaks, Serbs, Italians..etc how do you want the school to hire and pay teachers for all those languages? There are a lot of additional considerations and my comment is already getting long.
-

I challenge any country in the world to find some preschool or any school for that matter offering education in that many languages. And some people still claim that Serbia has no tolerance for its minorities and that those minorities have no any rights in Serbia. Well, I would like to see other countries dealing with so many minorities.

Joe,

Whats your point? Many countries do have minorities but do they introduce education in that many languagaes at schools? I will tell you, No, they don't. Take Finland as an example where the swedish language is second official after finnish. Students do learn SWEDISH but they are not really obliged to know that language. In western cost populated by Swedish majority swedish language is official. But don't forget that there are many Russians living in Finland but still have no status of minority, let alone education in their own language. So, please when you find me a country in this world offering education in so many languages do not hesitate to inform me. You live in USA and I am sure that the only language in use overthere is English even though there are so many nations living in the USA.

Just wanted to clarify: With curriculum in six languages, does this mean that every class will be taught in it's separate language? And through which levels can students enjoy this?

Joe,

Serbia is obliged to povide this education for its minorities. I would not call it love but the respect. On the other hand, why would not we call it even love. I think that Serbs cherish own minorities and at least I see them as our perl. I never mentioned that our minorities migrated into Serbia or Yugoslavia after 20's. They have lived in Vojvodina way before that. And for the end, you see Serbia still do care and do something to improve the position of its minorities and you should not deny this fact Joe.

The U.S. doesn't do this with all its ethnicities. You do not see Hungarian, German, Italian, French, Danish, etc. schools in America. Further the U.S. has not one non-English University among its 300 million inhabitants.

The U.S. pushes one thing for itself but expects more from other poorer countries.

The U.S. is just a major hypocrite, bully and meddler.