My daughter Sarah is heading off to college in a couple weeks. She will be a freshman at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia, and she has already decided that she wants to major in Latin and, following in her old man's footsteps, become a Latin teacher. She's excited; her mother's excited; and, of course, I'm excited. All too predictable, though, is the reaction of people when she tells them what she plans to study and then what she plans to due after she graduates. Most are surprised, some are confused, and a couple are even amused. She comes to me with stories of recent conversations with both friends and acquaintances who mean well, but just don't know how to react when someone says that they are pursuing the liberal arts. It is almost as if they are disappointed that my daughter isn't going to be contributing member of society who is out to make a million dollars.
I have had a discussion with my daughter that she will need to harden herself to these types of responses and to get her spiel ready and polished. I was also careful to tell her that she does not need to offer apologies to anyone. She is choosing a course of study which appeals to her and will make her a happy and educated individual. After all, she is going to college in order to receive an education, not to prepare for a job.
Colleges should not be seen as expensive vocational centers training the work-force for the 21st century. What present (and future) employers need are individuals who can think, plan, organize, be creative, collaborate, and communicate. Anyone with these abilities can easily be trained by employers to do what is required in any job and to be a contributing member to society. The world cannot benefit from narrowly-educated, close-minded individuals who are merely out to make money.
We, as educators, need to support and encourage students to pursue whatever field they wish after they leave our classrooms. If a students wishes to go on to college and study math, economics, engineering, and the like, so be it. Likewise, if a student wishes to major in art history, English literature, classical music, or Latin, these are completely valid choices as well. Student who go off to get a degree in the liberal arts should not have to defend or explain themselves. One should never have to apologize for her education.
3 comments:
Kudos to your daughter, Mark! The Latin world will be lucky to have her, I am sure. When I was in college, I was glad to be the only Polish major. At a big school (Berkeley), it was fun being in a major of ONE. There are a lot of things I might choose to do differently in life, knowing what I do know... but choosing a different undergraduate major is not on that list of things I would change! I hope she will have a wonderful learning adventure over the next years! :-)
I have wondered what the point of studying Latin is. There are other languages that are just as challenging and can be used in actual conversations.
I do hope her college experience is better than mine, however. Really, the only thing I learned was that I was hopeless in both academics and the job market. I chose computer science as my major, because I thought I was good at computers (that is, before being convinced otherwise in college).
Hello!
I must say I came across this post because I was reading about Latin, which is the main root of my native language since I speak Spanish, but I have found something really interesting to me:
"Colleges should not be seen as expensive vocational centers training the work-force for the 21st century. What present (and future) employers need are individuals who can think, plan, organize, be creative, collaborate, and communicate. Anyone with these abilities can easily be trained by employers to do what is required in any job and to be a contributing member to society."
I couldn't agree more on that, really.
And I do so for three reasons:
1. I consider and believe society and its education shouldn't be just focused in 'super' practical subjets, with the result of a poor culture.
Latin, besides is the root of many languages, so it is an important language and can help on the study, understanding or even developing of them. Latis is very important, for instance in the current educational system of Italy, since modern Italian (language) is very much related to it. So and therefore is its culture and sociaty.
2. I also think (even from my own experience) that individual growth/development or even happiness is extremelly much related to one's interestes. We should have the change to follow them and become (or do) what we really wish or dream of.In the end it will be even 'practical' for our society.
3. I liked what you said about employers. Probably it's the first time I heard of someone who thinks so. I really believe we are able to do almost anything. We just need some encouragment and training. This can be provided by employers. In fact I think this can be even more important than the education itself (as far as it's focused on 'super' practical subjets.
So, even though I am not personally very fond of Latin (because I struggled a lot when I studied it in High School)I like languages, I know about the importance of them and their roots.
I think one can find 'practical uses' of Latin or other ancient languages, and most important of all I think society or I'd rather say 'a healthy' society should encourage and help its citizens to do what they really wnat to (let alone what they are most talented to or they dream of).
Sorry about my English, it's not my native language.
Greetings. Good luck.
Post a Comment