language
the other day i heard a talk by Dr. Charles Ping, Ohio University's 18th president, from 1975 to 1994. the subject of the talk was the importance of global exchange in the context of university students.one of his comments raised an interesting point. why might the "typical" american be so narrow-minded? we in the states grow up monolingual for the most part. with the exception of heritage speakers and immigrants, english is the only language spoken at home AND in school. nationwide, language programs are not usually introduced into the school system until the 9th grade, right after the critical period for learning a language has passed. anyway, his comment was that all education, even thought itself, begins with language.
of course. knowing only one language, therefore, greatly limits education, and even thought. it would be a fallacy to state that all people who only know one language are narrow-minded. so i will speak in positive instead of negative terms. knowing another language greatly increases one's capacities to understand other perspectives, other thought patterns, other cultures, etc. one's life can be greatly enriched by the ability to understand different thought, aka language.
posted by leah v @ 7:07 PM
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