stray thoughts on Russian and education

[Robert Beard]

Dear Paul,

I just returned from my freshman seminar where I gave what my students have
called my 'Four Magic Years' lecture (some of them hear it 2-3 times).  In
it I remind students that --except in extraordinaty cases- never again in
their lives will they be able to set aside four years of their lives to
explore any question or issue they wish, from the outer reaches of outer
space to the inner recesses of inner space:  what is the universe, what is
the earth, what is Russia, what are Russians (French, Guyanese, Chipewas,
etc.), what is it to be an American, who am I, who should I be, what is the
mind, what are the parts of the mind?  They will always have parties,
social organizations, athletics in their lives but never four years with an
enormous library and specialists who have devoted their careers to
answering just these questions.  The suggestion is that when decision time
comes, they should do what they can only do at a university and not choose
those things which they can do any time, any place.

The question is whether it works.   Maybe it is -- we have 3 more in 1st-
year Russian than we had last year.

--Bob