Increased Enrollments article

Fri Nov 16 06:17:43 UTC 2007

Dear Janey,

CONGRATULATIONS on all this!

Robert

> I have been teaching Russian at McGavock High School in Nashville, TN, since
> 1986, and it's interesting the way the enrollment's gone.  Back then, with the
> Cold War still on, it was the language of choice by the "alternative" kids,
> many of them "Goth", many of them brilliant and troubled at the same time.
> Then, down came the curtain, and enrollment dropped to a mere trickle.  I've
> always had one Russian class, a combination class with up to four levels in
> the same classroom at the same time (one-room schoolhouse!), with first year
> getting the lion's share of attention and levels 3 & 4 never more than 3-4
> students each.  Because of declining enrollment our assistant principal in
> charge of scheduling took it upon herself to delete first year Russian from
> the schedule last year, so while I had a handful of second year and four
> brilliant third year students, I had nothing to build on.  Fortunately she
> retired and the new assistant principal allowed me to recruit.  She let me
> speak to 
> the incoming freshmen before they registered about the five languages offered
> at our school and to give the pros for each one.  I know that put Russian back
> on the map for some.  But the biggest and best boost we got was from the Open
> House in the spring, where parents can come in to look at our programs.  My
> Russian two kids did a bang-up job advertising Russian, so that this year I
> have 31 first year students and 3 third years.  The first quarter I had 1/3
> make A's in Russian 1--and when that was compared to the number of A's in the
> other foreign languages taught here, it brought gasps of amazement. The kids
> love it.  They feel special, and many of them have already expressed the
> desire to go three, even four years with it.  Word of mouth, people.  It's the
> BEST advertisement!
> 
> Janey Haynes
> Nashville, TN
> 
> -------------- Original message from Josh Wilson <jwilson at SRAS.ORG>:
> -------------- 
> 
> 
>> Another two cents,
>> 
>> I don't think that a drop in Russia's perceived threat is to blame. The US
>> does see Russia as threat - Alina Israeli's comments show this, as does
>> nearly all journalism in the States, as does the current politics in Central
>> Asia. Take Georgia, for instance. Georgia is right now our one way of
>> "safely" getting oil out of Central Asia - Russia wants control there
>> because with Georgia in its sphere, it can route all the oil and gas heading
>> for the West through Russian pipelines, thus boosting Russian economic and
>> political power. While the news will have you believe that Iran and
>> "terrorists" are our biggest threats - that title more properly rests with
>> China and Russia - who are increasingly gaining the ability to challenge us
>> militarily and, more importantly, economically. Thus, we are supporting
>> Georgia's current government while Russia is supporting its opposition.
>> 
>> Also, Russia is still seen by businesses as a source of major profits. The
>> consumer boom, petrodollars, etc. means that, according to a study by Ernst
>> and Young that says that 90% of business invested here plan to expand in
>> 2008. Many more companies (mostly smaller, like Campbell's Soup, Starbucks,
>> Berlitz - but also a few major companies like Disney) - are now planning or
>> recently made market entries or major investments. And foreign investment is
>> still in the billions every year. Intel recently opened a fairly expensive
>> R&D facility in Nizhny Novgorod. Pepsi is planning a brand new factory in
>> southern Russia. Coca-Cola is following through with plans to invest 1.5
>> billion dollars (yes, billion) in Russia over the next few years. And that's
>> just what I recall off the top of my head.
>> 
>> I would offer that the slump in interest is simply one of style. Russia was
>> cool in the 80s and early 90s. Now, it's out of fashion. China's the new
>> Russia, so to say. Maybe in several years, it will be Russia's turn again -
>> or maybe students will be studying Portuguese to head down to Brazil. Hard
>> to say. 
>> 
>> A major PR campaign (or major world event) would likely help - something to
>> drive home that Russia is a major destination for investment - and is very
>> important to international diplomacy. But that would take the media
>> reporting on Russia with something other than hopelessness - and likely
>> politicians doing the same. I don't think this is likely in the near future.
>> Maybe we could get Paris Hilton and Ksenia Sobchuk to do some public service
>> announcements? ;) (kidding, of course).
>> 
>> But this doesn't mean that increased grass-roots efforts that we can do
>> won't help. For folks hoping to build the attractiveness of their programs
>> on campus, SRAS offers http://www.sras.org/educators (see "Classroom
>> Materials and Advocacy). We'd love to hear what you think - and if you have
>> success (or failure) with our ideas.
>> 
>> Best, 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Josh Wilson 
>> Asst. Director 
>> The School of Russian and Asian Studies
>> Editor-in-Chief 
>> Vestnik, The Journal of Russian and Asian Studies
>> www.sras.org 
>> jwilson at sras.org
>> 
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
>> [mailto:SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Alina Israeli
>> Sent: Thursday, November 15, 2007 1:27 AM
>> To: SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU
>> Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Increased Enrollments article
>> 
>> On Nov 14, 2007, at 3:31 PM, Inna Caron wrote:
>> 
>>> Russia is no longer perceived as a major threat to national
>>> security and/or
>>> the principle competitor for the world dominance.
>> 
>> 
>> 1. Russian is one of top four urgently needed (that is speakers of,
>> pardon my fractured syntax) on the State Dept. and US Army lists.
>> 
>> 2. That's what makes so many Russians upset and they are trying their
>> darnest to make sure that Americans (and others) perceive them that way.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Alina Israeli 
>> LFS, American University
>> 4400 Massachusetts Ave., NW
>> Washington DC. 20016
>> (202) 885-2387 
>> fax (202) 885-1076
>> aisrael at american.edu
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
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