Why students do not study Russian anymore

[VShell]

Reading Cheri Wilson's story, I immediately wonder if the study of *any*
foreign language from a young age, in general, will make learning
subsequent languages as an adult easier.  As such, it might not be a bad
thing for Slavists to support education in Spanish or French at the
preschool and primary school levels, so they have a pool of
better-prepared students in secondary school and beyond, from which to
draw "converts" (or at least those wishing to study 2 foreign languages
simultaneously)?

-- Stephen Bobick


On Tue, 6 Jun 2000, Cheri C Wilson wrote:

> On Mon, 5 Jun 2000, Marta Sherwood-Pike wrote:
>
> > Most American students emerge from high schools without the mental
> > skills to learn difficult foreign languages, chiefly because they are
> > not exposed to a bilingual environment in their childhood.
>
> Marta,
>
> I would have to agree with you on this one.   It appears that the trend
> nowadays is to start language training early, such as in Montessori
> schools, pre-K programs, etc.  It appears that the language usually taught
> at that stage is Spanish.
>
> I am hoping to demonstrate this point through my personal story, which I
> hope no one will mind.
>
> I started studying French in the 6th grade and continued it through my
> freshman year of college.  I also studied Spanish for three years in high
> school.  My high school offered Russian, which I wanted to take my senior
> year; but, the guidance counselors said no because I was already taking
> two other languages (as if being multilingual is a bad thing).  I was the
> only student in my high school taking two languages.
>
> I started taking Russian my 2nd year of college and was immediately
> fascinated by how little I knew about the geographical area in
> general.  Next, I started taking literature, culture, history, politics,
> etc and then changed my major to Slavic and East European Studies.
>
> I transferred schools and had the opportunity to intern for a semester in
> a think tank.  I also spent the spring semester of my final year in Russia
> where I lived in 4 different cities--Nizhnii Novgorod, Moscow,
> Chelyabinsk, and St. Petersburg.  I received a B.A. in Russian language
> and literature (with a broader focus on Russian Area Studies, although the
> University did not have an official program).  I continued on and
> received the M.A. in Russian Area Studies.  Initially, my plan was to
> receive the M.A. and then go on to law school, so that I work specifically
> with Russia.  My advisor convinced me to apply to the Ph.D. program in
> History, so here I am a Ph.D. candidate in Russian history.  The wonderful
> thing is that I have been able to combine my passion for Russian, history,
> and law into my area of specialization, Russian legal history.
>
> Believe it or not, I still remember much of my French and Spanish from
> junior high and high school and use both languages whenever I have the
> opportunity as well as for research.  I also managed to pick up a reading
> knowledge of German on the side for good measure.
>
> Add to the mix that I happen to be black (not African-American please);
> then one really has to ask how did I get interested in all of the
> different languages when I don't have any of those ethnicities in my
> background?
>
> This leads to a question that I would like to pose to the list.  How does
> one get minority students interested in foreign languages, specifically
> Slavic languages?  I ask because no one had to use the old Pushkin trick
> to try to hook me in.  But, then again, I don't think that you have to be
> a particularly ethnicity to study the history or language of a certain
> ethnicity.
>
> Just my $.02 kopecks,
>
> Cheri C. Wilson
>
> Cheri C. Wilson
> Ph.D. candidate, Russian history
> Teaching Fellow
> Loyola College in Maryland
> Department of History
> 4501 N. Charles Street
> Baltimore, MD 21210-2699
> Office telephone: (410) 617-2017
> Fax: (410) 617-2832
> E-mail: CWilson3 at loyola.edu
> http://www.evergreen.loyola.edu/~CWilson3/
>
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