I enjoy learning things. I like taking classes. I have been going to
the University of Michigan since I was
in 10th grade. My high school only had Latin and two years of French as
foreign languages. It was a small school; only 325 students. If you wanted
to take a class they didn't offer, you could take classes at UM or at the
other high schools. Since I didn't care to go to the other high schools,
I began taking university classes. My first class was a European history
class. Then, I took French and Italian classes before I graduated from high
school. I got into UM and have been going ever since. After the first few
semesters I figured out that I couldn't do full-time because I didn't put
enough into each class; or maybe I put in too much, and couldn't last out
the semester. At any rate, I began going part-time, only taking two or three
classes each semester, and although it takes a long time, it's much more
fun. I have taken Old English, Symbolic logic, Cultural Anthropology, Japanese,
Film Studies, Calculus, a lot of Linguistics
and English-language classes, Astronomy, "Math for Poets", and
many other interesting things. This semester, I am taking a class called
"Primate Social Behavior." It is really
fascinating so far- even the readings!!
I take classes that look interesting at the
time, and don't pay any attention to what I need to graduate, or to how
many science classes I have. Now I am nearing the time when I could graduate,
and it looks like my idea of a rounded education meshes pretty well with
the University's.
I have studied quite a few languages throughout my career; French, German,
Welsh, Italian, Latin, Old English, and finally Japanese. I have come to
one conclusion- although of course native speakers make the best teachers
for pronunciation and intonation and natural feel, I don't think that anyone
ought to be allowed to teach a language without having Linguistic training.
When a student asks why something is the way it is, a foreign language teacher
shouldn't be allowed to say, "That's just the way it is in our language.
There's no pattern. You just have to memorize it this way," When 90%
of the time, there *is* a pattern, or a reason, or there used to be a pattern
which you can kind of see even though the modern forms have mutated. "Just
memorize it this way" is completely contrary to the notion of education.
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