Increased Enrollments article

[B. Amarilis Lugo de Fabritz]

On Wed, 14 Nov 2007, Inna Caron wrote:
>
> A few years ago I gave a talk on Russian hackers and cybercrime in the U.S.
> One of the attendees said afterward, "We need more of this type of
> publications, because it will assure the funding of the Russian programs,
> which we can then use to continue teaching Dostoevsky."
>

There are two angles that I see as openings for expanding the enrollments. 
The security angle has always been clearly compelling. The angle we still 
have to maximize is the plain appeal of the popular culture.

I had three experiences this week that made this clear to me. I teach at a 
Historically Black University, and the standard channels for Russian 
language are usually exposure to the literature content courses that 
fulfill the humanities requirement. I had one of my literature students 
come into my office yesterday to show me a dvd copy - her own personal 
copy - of Russian Ark. She was absolutely excited about the difference 
between this movie and the other American "artsy" movies she has watched. 
Unfortunately, her father is working in Beijing this year, so she gets 
free Chinese in China this summer *GROAN* otherwise she would sign up for 
Russian next year. But she is trying to see if she can get to Siberia for 
Russian. If she does that, she mnight be willing to take both Chinese and 
Russian in the fall. Granted, it is a less than even odd of taking 
Russian, but she is quite excited about it.

The other experience occured with my four year old. He finally got to see 
Little Einstein's episode on the Firebird -- granted a super kitchy, 
stereotypical presentation of Russian art and music. But I was in the car 
with the classical music station on and he sang along to a segment of the 
Firebird they were playing on the radio. From Wiggles to Stravinsky in an 
hour. He also really really likes Dvorak's Ninth because Little Einsteins 
has used it in four episodes.  The same thing can apply to our 
universities, only with materials that appeal to the MTV generation. 
Granted, it means proactive work by overworked, underpaid faculty to do 
things like film festivals and concerts, but that grabs undergraduate 
attentions at their MTV level.


Finally, the most influential experience involved word of mouth. Somehow, 
even though we have not had enough content for a major in the last few 
years, we got a graduating Senior win a  Fulbright to go to Russia. 
Another student completed summer study at Middlebury and is singing the 
glories of Russian to any classmate who will listen. I have another 
student in second year Russian and in my literature classes who is trying 
to find a way to do summer study in the United States. Our own students 
are the best advertisements for Russian.

The problem is the available energy to resources ratio. Usually Spanish 
has hundreds of students to help faculty put together whatever you want - 
plays, concerts, Spanish club suppers, etc. Your average Russian 
department, at maybe a half to a fifth to a tenth of the size of the 
Spanish contingent burns faculty out at a higher rate. Getting funding for 
one special program every two years is a lot easier than having to get 
funding for every special program we want to put together. That is a 
problem I have a harder time solving.

Amarilis Lugo de Fabritz
Lecturer, Howard University

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