Alarm

[Stephen Bobick]

Note:  Please interpret the "you" as a "rhetorical you" everywhere it
appears below.  No ad-hominem attacks are intended.


  Benjamin Rifkin writes:
  >I think that we should consider diversifying our departments to attract
  >enrollments in these and other languages and cultures of Central and
  >Eastern Europe while continuing to work on attracting students to the study
  >of Russian language and culture (including literature).

I agree.  If you (rhetorical you) truly are members of "Departments of Slavic
Languages" and not members "Departments of Russian", then your departments
should offer a significant number of quality courses in languages other than
Russian.  I've done a bit of web surfing to "Slavic" language departments
around the US and don't find this currently to be the case, k sozhaleniyu.

  [...]
  Benjamin Rifkin writes:
  >I agree with Genevra that this is the CENTRAL issue facing our profession
  >now.  We MUST stimulate interest in our target culture and we MUST get the
  >word out that students who study Russian language and culture can use the
  >skills they learn in our classes to get good jobs in Russia and in the USA.
  >(Remember when we had high enrollments but job prospects were poor?)

And it is this attitude about the centrality and ultimate importance of
Russian, which I as an outsider to your field find so offensive and
annoying about so-called "Departments of Slavic Languages".  Is this a
misnomer?  Are you not really "Departments of Russian" or "Departments of
Russian (with a few token 1st and maybe 2nd year courses in other languages)"?
Or, to borrow from my profession (computer programming):  "Departments of
Russian++"?  Why do you need a *target* culture, and why is it *Russian*?
Why must you focus on *Russian* enrollments?  If you are truly departments of
*Slavic* languages, perhaps you should be focusing on aggregate enrollments
in all languages taught at your respective departments.  Perhaps you should
focus on increasing this *aggregate* enrollment -- even if that means that
Russian-language enrollments must drop in order to have a net increase in
*total* enrollments.

In my personal *opinion*, Russian has been overemphasized and overfunded in
US education, and what you are seeing now is a correction for this due to
changing "market forces".  The inflated supply of Russian exceeds its demand,
and, unless some major developments occur in Eastern Europe to change this
situation (like a totalitarian/imperial/confrontational government in Russia)
I think this trend will continue.

  Benjamin Rifkin writes:
  >We should also publicize the fact that students who study Russian have a
  >very high rate of going on to graduate school, so that if students want to
  >go to graduate school, studying Russian might improve their chances.

Why should such an advertisement uniquely specify Russian?  If you diversify
your departments, examine opportunities abroad in fledging transitional
economies, etc, are there not many opportunities for those studying Polish,
Czech, Ukrainian, etc?  And is it not the case that all Slavic languages offer
a similar level and quality of intellectual challenges for students?

  Benjamin Rifkin writes:
  >Perhaps their applications stand out among those of students who have
  >studied only more commonly taught languages.  Perhaps our students pick up
  >study skills useful for preparing for the LSATs or the GREs or the MCATs or
  >other such exams.  Or perhaps they pick up study skills that help them
  >improve their overall GPAs.  Or perhaps they're just brighter to begin with:
  >students seeking additional challenge.

Again, why should this be unique to Russian?

  Benjamin Rifkin writes:
  >Whatever the case, if the trend for declining enrollments continues, our
  >profession and our mission will suffer greatly.  We MUST focus on
  >enrollments and we must focus our attention on strategies for success in
  >enrollment building.

Agreed, but *aggregate* enrollments in the Slavic languages should be the
number you are seeking to maximize -- even to the possible detriment of
Russian language enrollments.

-- Stephen Bobick