Given that I recently wrote a column on the benefits of pushing languages in general, I was delighted to see a column in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel this weekend about a linguistics class taught at the Milwaukee School of Languages.
It’s not often one hears of linguistics being taught in high school, and while it makes more sense to see it at a language-focused high school, it still is nonetheless encouraging. The column, by Alan Borsuk, hits at a lot of the key issues relating to these sorts of classes.
He first explores two central features of what makes any class successful at any level of education: memorability and value. I’m guessing most of us here don’t remember everything we’ve learned while undergraduates. I don’t even remember half the classes I took during my freshman and sophomore years. The courses I do remember, however, were certainly both memorable and valuable.
Borsuk briefly mentions some of the aspects that give a course value. He notes they provide cultivation of creativity, which is key to success in an innumerable number of ways.
He also mentions the value that arises from instilling a love for learning in students. This is key for understanding why classes like French or linguistics ought to be accessible to all students, rather than just the few courses deemed “utile.”
Imagine a student who finds school boring because his or her roster of classes just doesn’t connect. The student finds math, biology, history, English, etc. a waste of time. Yet, then, they enroll in linguistics and find it fascinating. Suddenly they find themselves looking forward to homework assignments, having an intrinsic interest in the material. Then before they know it, they start to realize how stimulating learning can be in general, and that realization overflows into other classes. Their interest spreads and suddenly they begin to try in every class. I’ve seen this happen to many friends, not just in college but in high school, as well.
This is the key to classes like linguistics. It might not fit into the conception of a “utile” student, but it certainly has value. Once the flame of learning is lit, it spreads like wildfire to all subjects.
Now imagine another situation wherein students who would have found how stimulating learning could have been if they had been able to learn French, instead had to enroll in Spanish because the school they attended deemed it a more “valuable” language in today’s world (note: I’m not in any way saying one shouldn’t enroll in Spanish, this is just a hypothetical). Those students never end up discovering the joy of learning and are lost. For the rest of their lives, they will not live up to their potentials because they remain apathetic towards education.
These “outlier” classes like linguistics matter incredibly because they can instill a crucial desire to learn in students that spreads to all other classes.
Borsuk raises another interesting point. He asks what we’re doing to encourage these sorts of courses and teachers to continue doing what they’re doing. And, well, we’re not doing a whole lot. “We” sure don’t seem to value teachers and education in general, as anyone who has followed the proportions of spending cuts the University of Wisconsin System has borne can attest to. We sure don’t seem to be encouraging teachers to keep doing the great jobs they have been.
It’s great to hear of courses like linguistics being valued publicly. They can be a gateway for students to discover the mental stimulation that accompanies learning in general. Given that it’s teacher appreciation week, we all ought to make a point of thanking the teachers who have instilled this kind of thirst for knowledge in you. If all you do is simply fill in bubbles on a course evaluation, how will they know that their course truly meant something to you?
Reginald Young ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in legal studies and Scandinavian studies.
