stray thoughts on Russian and education

[Mark Yoffe]

Well said Mr. Klanderud!!!

Mark Yoffe, Ph.D.                       Tel.: (202) 994-6848
Slavic Librarian                        Fax: (202) 994-1340
The George Washington University        yoffe at gwis2.circ.gwu.edu
Washington, D.C. 20052

On Tue, 3 Sep 1996, Paul A. Klanderud wrote:

> Fellow SEELANGers:
>
> I was just looking through my e-mail after a rather uneventful day of
> maintaining COBOL code in my new and unexpected (and hopefully temporary)
> profession as a programmer, and came across another letter hoping to get
> some data on ways in which students have put their knowledge of Russian
> (I'll lump lang, lit, and culture together) to some fiscally responsible
> use. Seems like we're thinking a lot these days of education in terms of
> cost-benefit analysis, no doubt partially owing to the way education as a
> whole currently is being run.
>
> I've got nothing against making money (preferably in sizable quantities),
> nor against putting one's knowledge of Russian to use in the "real world."
> And it's probably business considerations that will -- someday -- give
> Russian studies the shot in the arm it needs.
>
> But...have students changed that much? I don't mean from the fifties and
> sixties, but from, say, the seventies and eighties? How many of us, as
> undergrads, were thinking in terms of gainful employment when we signed up
> for fourth year Russian, for a Dostoevsky course that we didn't even need,
> or for any other lit or culture course? Naturally, there were some classes
> some of us (present company excluded) might conceivably have taken because
> they were known as easy A's, but for the most part, I'd guess we took all
> these fiscally useless courses because they sounded *interesting*.
>
> As a rather broad aside, how many students these days truly relish their
> years as just plain students, no matter the subject matter (but I have the
> "liberal arts" in mind)? Most of us who have made it or are making our way
> through grad school, and those who are now teachers in the profession,
> probably would have been pretty darn content to remain students all our
> lives -- that's one of the big draws of academia, and one I sorely miss,
> adrift as I am in the "real world" of insurance and computers.
>
> The point of my admittedly rather aimless missive? Maybe it's time that we
> reconsidered and defended the value of education, learning, and the sharing
> of ideas that have no quantifiable "real-world" value. At the risk of
> sounding far too new-age (or anachronistically old-timey and Mr. Chippy),
> maybe it's time that we reminded our students that they are going through a
> once-in-a-lifetime experience, a period when they can get away with thinking
> both lofty and irrelevant thoughts, taking them as far as they go, writing
> them down for no one but themeselves and their instructors, and drawing from
> that experience the memories that will carry them through far too many days
> of fiscally responsible drudgery once they become card-carrying citizens.
> The value of student years spend in this manner is immeasurable; the rewards
> for the rare teacher who can inspire such an attitude, irreplaceable.
>
> Remaining a humble servant,
> Paul Klanderud
>
>
>
>
>
> ******************************************************
> Paul A. Klanderud                   N8106 1130th Street
> tel: (715) 425-9507                 River Falls, Wisconsin 54022
> e-mail: paulkla at mail.pressenter.com
>