Back to Kindergarten
I can see many advantages to being a college professor. For the most part–and particularly for the ones who teach at the 3000-level and above–they interact with students who are capable and have an interest in learning. Even for the ones who teach at the lowest levels (the “Introduction to Such-and-Such” courses), their students must have at least some ability, or they could not have reached college. I took a beginning astronomy course, and though I know the professor didn’t give us the same information that he gave his graduate-level courses, the class was still challenging, and he must have received satisfaction from being able to speak about a subject he loved in a manner that he could not were he speaking to fifth-graders.
Professors of foreign languages, however, must feel constantly bemused. Even if they have studied hard, and worked diligently to secure posts at prestigious state universities, they must feel each day that they are teaching to infants. I consider myself a proficient speaker of English. I can write the language reasonably well, too. I know an assortment of verb tenses. I command a full arsenal of pronouns. I understand the difference between determiners, demonstratives, quantifiers, and so on. I even understand why the preceding sentence is correct, in spite of the way it seemingly violates the rule pertaining to the use of “between” and “among”. But, regardless of all of that, I am worse than a child when it comes to learning German. Vocabulary is one thing–all languages require vocabulary acquisition–and pronunciation can be challenging, but the rules can be baffling, especially to one not used to gender, complex declension, or crazy syntax. The professors–well-educated, highly-paid educators–must feel like they’re dealing with infants.
Filed under: School on July 13th, 2009 | 1 Comment »