Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ames!mailrus!cornell!uw-beaver!blake!robert
From: robert@blake.acs.washington.edu (Gedankenleere)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: foreign language requirements for PhDs
Message-ID: <1253@blake.acs.washington.edu>
Date: 17 Mar 89 21:39:50 GMT
References: <7287@spool.cs.wisc.edu> <2851@eos.UUCP> <401@rb-dc1.UUCP> <21572@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU> <1280@wpi.wpi.edu> <134@cs.columbia.edu>
Reply-To: robert@blake.acs.washington.edu (Gedankenleere)
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
Lines: 25

All this crap about foreign language requirements making a better, more
understanding, more tolerant human beings out of most of those who take
foreign language have no hard, large-scale supporting data to back it up!!!

Neither do the perpetual claims that it allows you to learn English better!!

If you want people to better understand others' cultures they we should be 
requiring American ethnic studies, or comparitve world ethnic studies where
you, as a student can PERSONNALY interact with people of other ethnic groups,
or if infeasable, be confronted directly (perhaps through play acting,or some
such devices, more effective than mere text reading or dry lecture) with
the world views, concerns, perceptions (of You and your culture), of people
from these other cultures!!

Virtually all the time spent in a foreign language class is on mechanics of
grammar, vocabulary, composition, idomatic speech patterns, NOT only direct
confrontation or examination of your (and theirs) cultural perceptions and
prejudices!! (make that: NOT ON instead of NOT only")

It is my strong belief that the people in the humanities have brainwashed
themselves and many of the rest of us in swallowing these claims whole,
unchallenged, without any real critical scrutiny!!

pardon the spelling errors and syntax errors, I don't have time (or the correct
editor ) to go back and pretty this stuff up.