Another reason to study Russian

[George Kalbouss]

	It looks as if nobody knows anything anymore.  In my undergraduate  
classes hardly anyone
knew who Stalin was (hundreds and hundreds of students),  most could  
not locate any nation
on the map.  Once flying into New York from Columbus with a group of  
students, one asked,
"what's that body of water out there?" -- I answered,  "the Atlantic  
Ocean."

	I hope we do not have our heads in the sand about the vast sea of  
polluted ignorance
that is out there.  One of our Biology professors at Ohio State said  
that 80% of her students believe
that the world started with the Garden of Eden -- please don't say,  
"yes, but you're talking about Ohio."  Remember
Ohio usually provides the decisive votes for President of the United  
States.

	I'm beginning to suspect that this ignorance of the past is not only  
an American phenomenon,
witness the neo-Nazis in Israel who are of Russian parentage (where is  
their knowledge of
what the Nazis did in their homeland, i.e. to their ancestors?).   
Maybe, a contemporary Candide
would say, "yes, but somewhere someone does know something."  I just  
pray that we are not
the Candides.

	Pardon the rant.  If they don't know about the Atlantic Ocean or  
Stalin, how would they know about Lolita?

George Kalbouss
THE Ohio State University
Retired

	


On Feb 3, 2008, at 9:41 AM, Deborah Hoffman wrote:

> That even tops the (Master's degreed) person I met who had never heard  
> the word Gulag because she "wasn't even born yet." Has there been some  
> serious shift in educational policy since I left my B.A. behind 15  
> years ago? (Presumably web designer staff for a large concern such as  
> Woolworth's also have the equivalent of an undergraduate degree). I  
> distinctly remember learning about many things that happened before I  
> was born, even (especially?) in the required classes that were not my  
> major field of study. I was never a fan of E.D. Hirsch, but I am  
> really starting to wonder.
>
>> Date:    Sat, 2 Feb 2008 11:13:19 +0000
>> From:    William Ryan <wfr at SAS.AC.UK>
>> Subject: Re: Another reason to study Russian
>>
>> Perhaps even a reason to study English - the management of Woolworths
>> claimed they were not guilty of sexualising childrens' products -
>> because they had never head of Lolita.
>> Will Ryan
>>
>>
>> Seth Graham wrote:
>> So you don't make corporate decisions like this:
>>
>> "Woolworths withdraws 'Lolita' bed
>> Bedroom furniture for young girls with the brand name Lolita has been
>
>> withdrawn by Woolworths following complaints from parents.
>> A parenting website said it was in "unbelievably bad taste" to give
>> the bed the same name as a novel about a sexually precocious young
>  girl.
>> Woolworths said the £395 Lolita Midsleeper Combi was withdrawn
>  when
>> the matter was brought to its attention.
>> Vladimir Nabokov's 1955 novel became famous for its controversial
>> subject."
>>
>> Full article from BBC News here:
>>
>> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7222008.stm
>>
>> Seth
>> _____________
>> S e t h   G r a h a m
>> Lecturer in Russian
>> School of Slavonic and East European Studies
>> University College London
>> Gower St
>> London WC1E 6BT
>> Telephone: +44 (0)20 7679 8735
>> s.graham at ssees.ucl.ac.uk
>
>
> Deborah Hoffman, Esq.
> Russian > English Legal and Literary Translations
>
> A man ceases to be a beginner in any given science and becomes a  
> master in that science when he has learned that he is going to be a  
> beginner all his life. -- R. G. Collingwood
>
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