A man explains the reasons why he did not push his children to learn Greek.
ΑΝ.: But, unfortunately, my children didn’t learn the
Greek they should have learned.
Res.: How come…?
ΑΝ.: Look. The period when… the period when we were
going, eh… first of all my children, when they went to school, despite being
born here, didn’t speak English. Minimal. They spoke Greek. And… because I
believed that we should never become a ghetto, I didn’t push them that much.
Yes, they did go to afternoon schools. They completed the afternoon schools in
Greek… eh… they read, they spoke, but I never pushed them. And it’s a mistake,
I see it now that it was a mistake. I didn’t push them that much, because I
know some acquaintances who had placed Greek above all… eeh… and they’ve
nurtured their children as Greeks not… Greeks and not Canadians. And this is a
terrible problem.
Res.: In what way?
ΑΝ.: Eh, what way? Because you’re born, grown up here
and you’re not thinking of Canada, you’re thinking of Greece. I pass by the
Association of Cretans, I see the children, youth, thirty, forty years old,
the only thing they care about is to wear a black shirt, drink tsikoudia, go
to Crete every summer and dance. Completely iso… isolated and detached.
Res.: Yes, yes, yes.
ΑΝ.: And… that’s why I hadn’t pushed the children that
much. I regretted it now, they should have learned more. They didn’t. It’s
alright. What to do? Says now.
