I'm debating whether or not to renew my subscription to FP. I read much of the latest issue on the way over and was leaning yes with this insightful, well and coyly written piece but then I read this completely nonsensical BS. Why reduce complexity to artificial categories? Why?
Also, interesting Russia piece in there, and one about the Ukraine (and what the recent election means for Russia) in the Times this morning.
Our financial illiteracy contributes to our constantly getting ripped off.
Hat tip to Wendy for this debate on Americans and language learning. I have to agree with Susan Jacoby--there is a dumbing down of what it means to be an educated person in this country, and that's not limited to languages (I'm not putting myself above the standards by any means).
Two side notes:
(1) I mentioned that I'm Rosetta Stoning--and it's getting harder, as it does. But it makes you think in a completely different way and you're forced to challenge yourself and leave your comfort zone, and people should just do that, all the time. I believe in language learning for the sake of learning languages, but if that's not enough for you, do it as an educational exercise. I'd also argue that it's important to learn at least one other language to understand how they work. Which leads to one reason I think people don't learn languages: it's really f*ing hard and it takes discipline and perseverance, sometimes in the face of invisible progress. Much like other things we learn (physics--at which I suck--for eg), but those are not made optional.
(2) I think it's funny that in the lemondrop link I posted the other day--in the context of "settling"--the woman who was endorsing settling was saying she thought she'd marry someone who spoke foreign languages. There's lots to be explored in that in terms of what it means to speak and not speak a foreign language in this country: as Ms. Jacoby pointed out, it's not an indicator of one's education. So what does it indicate? What does it mean to speak or not speak a foreign language, in terms of the person that you are?
Also, we're not alone in our cluelessness: when I was in the UK, working at an international school, many Brits believed language teaching was pointless because everyone spoke English.
Okay, much more to say but I have to go to work. Please comment and we'll discuss.
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1 comment:
Good to hear you escaped from DC! Re: languages and financial illiteracy - I'm probably the wrong guy to ask, but I simply don't understand why people don't invest a little bit of time in learning the basics of personal finance. All it takes is a little bit of initiative and these folks would be immeasurably better off. You don't have to dedicate yourself to investment analysis and portfolio management (like I did) - all it takes is a little bit of effort! As for languages, I think quite a few people fall prey to the same pressures as I have... I studied foreign languages (Spanish and Russian), but never really used them and lost proficiency many years ago. Call it laziness, but since English is the international language of business, I focused more energy on developing my skills in other areas (math anyone?). :-)
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