By Thomas H Bak
There is hardly an idea as deeply ingrained and universally shared across academia as the belief in the value of education. Education is a good thing, and the more we can get of it the better. Conversely, lack of education is one of the worst evils. After all, education is our profession, our mission and, to a large extent, our raison d’être.
So it is not surprising that findings suggesting that education can protect against dementia were immediately greeted with enthusiasm. Here we had a tangible proof for the Latin proverb that we are learning not for the school but for life (“non scholae sed vitae discimus”). Admittedly, the results have never been as straight forward as one could wish: in some studies, the education effects were confined to specific circumstances such as rural residence or female gender and the results differed substantially from country to country (Bak & Alladi 2016). But the general principle that education must be one of the best ways of protecting our brain against disease was never seriously called into question.
This contrasts dramatically with the treatment of studies suggesting that bilingualism could have a positive effect in counteracting cognitive ageing (Bak et al 2014), delaying the onset of dementia (Alladi et al 2013) and improving stroke outcome (Alladi et al 2016). Here, any study not showing a “bilingualism effect” was readily taken as a proof that the whole idea is a “myth”. If bilingualism and education correlated with each other, it was taken for granted that any potential effect of bilingualism must be in fact due to the influence of education; certainly not the other way round. In other words: if a study did not find an effect of bilingualism, the problem was with bilingualism. If a study did not find an education effect, the problem was with the study.
The recent paper by Ramakrishnan et al (2017) makes a systematic attempt to compare the effects of education and bilingualism on the age of onset of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a precursor stage of dementia. Although in India, like in many other countries, bilingualism tends to be more common among people with higher education, the two variables can be dissociated. In particular, it is not unusual to find people with minimal or even absent school education who can speak two or more languages. This allowed us to compare the effects of bilingualism and of the years of education on the age of onset of the MCI. The difference between bilinguals and monolinguals was significant (65.2 vs. 58.1 years), indeed, even larger than the 4-5 years reported in previous studies of bilingualism and dementia. In contrast, education had only a modest effect: 59.1 years for people with less than 10 years of education, 62.6 for those with 10-15 years of education, 62.2 for those with more than 15 years.
So is the positive effect of education on cognition in later life just a myth that we like to believe because it provides us with one more argument for the importance of schools and universities? This is certainly not the message that we wish to convey in our paper. Education is important, but we need to define it more broadly: it is much more than just going to school.
Most measures of education used in cognitive studies are rather crude: the number of years spent in formal education, the age at leaving school/university or the highest degree obtained. In all cases, the measures do not take into account differences in quality between schools (or, for that matter, universities) and, importantly, any type of education happening outside school. This equating of education with school attendance becomes even more problematic in illiterate societies. Obviously, the transmission of knowledge in human societies predates the invention of writing and the establishment of formal schools by thousands of years. In countries like India, such traditions have survived until the present day; some accomplished and successful artisans might be illiterate, but it would be wrong to describe them as “uneducated”.
However, this is not only an issue applying to the developing countries. Millions of refugees and immigrants coming currently into the Western world bring with them much more in terms of education than a simple count of their years of school attendance, often cut short by war and displacement, might suggest. One of these under-recognised and underestimated treasures is their knowledge of languages. Many immigrants are fluent in more than one language, coming from ethnic and linguistic minorities or from countries where multilingualism is the norm rather than exception (which is, among others, the case across much of South Asia and Africa). This is also a form of education, carrying not only social and cultural but, as our study shows, health benefits. Accordingly, bilingualism and knowledge of languages should be recognised as a crucial part of education, independently whether they were acquired in the family, classroom, workplace or any other setting. If we want to understand the influence of education on our brains as well as on our societies, we have to appreciate its complex and multifaceted nature. And languages are an important part of it.
This blog has also appeared in Bilingualism Matters.
Bak et al 2014
Alladi et al 2013
Ramakrishnan et al 2017
Image above: With the graduates at University of Udayana On February 21st we mark the UN More
Image above left: Thomas giving a keynote at the first International Conference on Language Development and Assessment More
Image above: Central Dubai sunset In December 2020 my husband and me found ourselves in Dubai More
After my presentation on the cognitive benefits of bilingualism and Healthy Linguistic Diet approach at VIII More
"""Hakuna wazo linalozidi kuenea na kuenea katika ulimwengu wa kitaaluma kama imani katika thamani ya elimu." Elimu ni jambo zuri, na kadiri tunavyoweza kupata zaidi ya hiyo ndivyo inavyokuwa bora. Kinyume chake, ukosefu wa elimu ni mojawapo ya maovu mabaya zaidi. Baada ya yote, elimu ni kazi yetu, utume wetu na, kwa kiasi kikubwa, sababu yetu ya kuwapo. Kwa hiyo, haishangazi kwamba matokeo ya utafiti huo, ambayo yalionyesha kwamba elimu inaweza kulinda dhidi ya ugonjwa wa akili, yalipokelewa kwa shauku mara moja. Hapa tulikuwa na uthibitisho halisi wa mithali ya Kilatini kwamba hatujifunzi kwa ajili ya shule bali kwa ajili ya maisha (<unk>non scholae sed vitae discimus<unk>). Kwa kweli, matokeo hayajawahi kuwa moja kwa moja kama mtu angeweza kutamani: katika masomo fulani, athari za elimu zilikuwa zimepunguzwa kwa hali maalum kama vile makazi ya vijijini au jinsia ya kike na matokeo yalitofautiana sana kutoka nchi hadi nchi (Bak & Alladi, 2016). Lakini kanuni ya jumla kwamba elimu lazima iwe moja ya njia bora za kulinda ubongo wetu dhidi ya ugonjwa haikuwahi kuhojiwa kwa uzito. Hii inatofautiana sana na matibabu ya masomo ambayo yanaonyesha kuwa lugha mbili inaweza kuwa na athari nzuri katika kukabiliana na kuzeeka kwa utambuzi (Bak et al. 2014), kuchelewesha mwanzo wa dementia (Alladi et al. 2013) na kuboresha matokeo ya kiharusi (Alladi et al. 2016). Hapa, utafiti wowote ambao haukuonyesha "athari ya lugha mbili" ulichukuliwa kwa urahisi kama uthibitisho kwamba wazo lote ni "hadithi". Ikiwa lugha mbili na elimu zina uhusiano, inahesabiwa kuwa athari yoyote ya lugha mbili lazima iwe kwa sababu ya ushawishi wa elimu, na sio kinyume chake. Kwa maneno mengine: ikiwa utafiti haukupata athari ya lugha mbili, tatizo lilikuwa na lugha mbili. Ikiwa utafiti haukupata athari ya elimu, tatizo lilikuwa na utafiti. Ramakrishnan et al (2017) wanajaribu kulinganisha athari za elimu na lugha mbili juu ya umri wa mwanzo wa kasoro ya utambuzi wa upole (MCI), hatua ya mwanzo ya dementia. Ingawa nchini India, kama ilivyo katika nchi nyingine nyingi, lugha mbili huwa za kawaida zaidi miongoni mwa watu wenye elimu ya juu, vigezo hivyo viwili vinaweza kutenganishwa. Ni kawaida kupata watu wenye elimu ya shule ndogo au hata wasio na elimu ya shule ambao wanaweza kuzungumza lugha mbili au zaidi. Hii ilituwezesha kulinganisha athari za lugha mbili na miaka ya elimu juu ya umri wa mwanzo wa MCI. Tofauti kati ya bilinguals na monolinguals ilikuwa kubwa (65.2 vs. 58.1 miaka), kwa kweli, hata kubwa kuliko miaka 4-5 iliripotiwa katika masomo ya awali ya bilingualism na dementia. Kwa upande mwingine, elimu ilikuwa na athari ndogo tu: miaka 59.1 kwa watu wenye chini ya miaka 10 ya elimu, 62.6 kwa wale wenye miaka 10-15 ya elimu, 62.2 kwa wale wenye zaidi ya miaka 15. Je, athari nzuri ya elimu juu ya utambuzi katika maisha ya baadaye ni hadithi tu ambayo tunapenda kuamini kwa sababu inatupa hoja nyingine kwa umuhimu wa shule na vyuo vikuu? Kwa hakika hiyo si ujumbe tunaotaka kuutoa katika karatasi yetu. Elimu ni muhimu, lakini tunahitaji kuifahamu kwa njia pana zaidi: ni zaidi ya kwenda shule tu. Vipimo vingi vya elimu vinavyotumiwa katika masomo ya utambuzi ni vya kawaida: idadi ya miaka iliyotumika katika elimu rasmi, umri wa kuacha shule au chuo kikuu au shahada ya juu zaidi iliyopatikana. Katika kesi zote, hatua hazizingati tofauti katika ubora kati ya shule (au, kwa jambo hilo, vyuo vikuu) na, muhimu, aina yoyote ya elimu inayofanyika nje ya shule. Kufananisha elimu na kuhudhuria shule kunakuwa na matatizo zaidi katika jamii zisizo na elimu. Kwa wazi, kupitishwa kwa maarifa katika jamii za kibinadamu kulianzia maelfu ya miaka kabla ya uvumbuzi wa maandishi na kuanzishwa kwa shule rasmi. Katika nchi kama India, desturi kama hizo zimeokoka hadi leo; baadhi ya mafundi waliofanikiwa na waliofanikiwa wanaweza kuwa wasiojua kusoma na kuandika, lakini itakuwa ni makosa kuwaelezea kama <unk> wasio na elimu<unk>. Hata hivyo, hilo si suala linalohusu nchi zinazositawi tu. "Mamilioni ya wakimbizi na wahamiaji wanaokuja katika nchi za Magharibi kwa sasa huleta mengi zaidi katika suala la elimu kuliko kuhesabu tu miaka yao ya kuhudhuria shule, mara nyingi kukatizwa na vita na uhamiaji, inaweza kupendekeza. """ Mojawapo ya hazina hizo zisizotambuliwa na kutathminiwa ni ujuzi wao wa lugha. Wahamiaji wengi wanazungumza lugha zaidi ya moja, kutoka kwa watu wa makabila na lugha ndogo au kutoka nchi ambazo lugha nyingi ni kawaida badala ya ubaguzi (ambayo ni, kati ya mengine, kesi katika sehemu kubwa ya Asia Kusini na Afrika). Hii pia ni aina ya elimu, ambayo haina tu kijamii na kitamaduni lakini, kama utafiti wetu unaonyesha, faida za afya. Kwa hiyo, lugha mbili na ujuzi wa lugha zinapaswa kutambuliwa kama sehemu muhimu ya elimu, bila kujali kama zilipatikana katika familia, darasa, mahali pa kazi au mazingira mengine. Ikiwa tunataka kuelewa athari za elimu kwenye ubongo wetu na pia kwenye jamii zetu, ni lazima tuithamini asili yake tata na yenye pande nyingi. Lugha ni sehemu muhimu ya mchakato huu. Blogi hii pia imeonekana katika Masuala ya Lugha Mbili. "Mwanzoni mwa mwaka wa 2020, Thomas na mkewe, Ramakrishnan, walishirikiana na ""Mafunzo ya Lugha ya Dubai"" katika Mkutano wa Kimataifa wa Maendeleo ya Lugha na Tathmini ya Lugha, na walipata nafasi ya kuwasiliana na wanafunzi wa lugha mbili."