russian is in demand

[Denis Crnkovic]

adam cohen-siegel wrote

>it seems to me that being able to read tsvetaeva or bulgakov or chekhov or
>hrabal or krleza in the original should be reward enough.

Thank you, Adam. Your argument is the only the only line I have been able
to use on students recently that actually convinces them to keep studying
Russian (we have no other Slavic languages/literatures here). In fact, this
past year the freshmen asked me why our textbook wasted so much time
teaching them how to repeat their daily schedules when they could be
learning "useful" (their term, not mine) skills like reading Russian
literature. The students are brutally honest to themselves about a what is
possible with Slavic and what isn't. Although their numbers are not great,
we should encourage those who choose to be in college or university to
"learn something" because it is interesting or fun or "way cool" to take
our classes. Those who firmly believe that the purpose of education is to
get a better job are a lost cause and may be left to enjoy their studies of
accounting.

Ciao.


**********

Denis Crnkovic'

**********