- Respond to the readings
In Why Bilinguals Are Smarter, the author rightly notes that being able to speak more than one language is, in fact, advantagous in today's world, albeit to a degree as many persons I know from older generations are monolingual, and they are not fettered by this reality. However, the younger generation's propensity for grasping two or more will keep them in sync with the currents globalization dictates. The author's argument: being bilingual makes you smarter. The dual-capacity of two languages sitting juxtaposed, he argues, makes the brain work harder, and therefore increase its cognitive capability and provides more cross-fertilization within regions of the brain that are not necessarily active. Citing as evidence a performance study done on preschoolers, the author thus maintains that know two or more languages renders the brain's executive function superior to that of monolinguals -- from infancy to old age.
In Are Bilinguals Really Smarter?, the author argues that the cognitive effects of bilingualism are still yet ambiguous -- as in, what does the real meaning of the word "smart." Moreover, the today's groundswell provides ample room for multiculturalism, so does this fact skew our emotional reasoning when it comes to the monolingual-bilingual debate? The author cites one researcher's work and the unintended consequences thereof as evidence that suggests yes, this normative zeitgeist does influence our opinions of the aforementioned debate. One important deviation from her counterpart's argument is that executive function does not equate to intelligence. For example, neuroplasticity and its bonus of efficiency within the executive system may sound good within the context of popular science, however, the author questions this pretense because the ability is not the same as intelligence.
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