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Some highlights of the "campus-wide" meeting to discuss the future of the German program and the value of learning German:
Burianek: German is an important language to learn for many reasons--for example, more people in Europe now speak German than English or any other language. Also, as the business language for a large part of the world, it is especially important to know in our increasingly globalized community.
Kennedy: I agree, and also think that German is an important language to learn for students of history. It's a big part of my own life, and a big part of what I teach. To illustrate my point, I will pass around some artifacts. she hands out Mein Kampf, a letter from Bernd, and several Weimar-era million-mark notes Also, there is absolutely no way I would have done the Global Connections trip to Germany and Poland if none of the students had been able to get along in German.
IR prof: But aren't, say, Chinese and Arabic important too? Why are you trying to bring them down, man? Why is German so special?
Burianek: Um...because we already have a pretty good German department? And I didn't say German was more important than Chinese or Arabic.
A discussion begins on the value of Chinese. Ten minutes later:
Ocasio: ...okay, but the fact remains that we just don't have the resources to put together a decent Chinese department.
Gaeliel: Have you people all forgotten that this is a liberal arts college? Where is the logic in getting rid of German at a liberal arts college? [She actually said several things, all of which I agreed with completely and have somehow managed to forget.]
Nicoline: Nobody's going to be able to learn enough of some random language for it to be useful, anyway.
Me: Seriously, which is better, a grad-school-level knowledge of German, or a grade-school-level knowledge of something else? Also, I've actually found German to be useful in classes I've taken outside the department. Liberal arts college and all that. Oh, and you have to know German to get into some grad school math programs.
Nicoline: Same deal with art history, actually. Except all the grad schools require German for their art history programs.
Burianek: Wait, why are we talking about replacing German with some other language? Wasn't German going to get it because of budget cuts?
George: I was just going to get to that...so yeah, budget cuts. Hey, gotta let something go.
Burianek: That would make sense if German weren't one of the more cost-effective departments at the college.
French prof (I think): See, and if you cut German...I believe the plan was to create more sections of French and Spanish so students could fulfill their language requirement? Well, we could do that, but then we'd need more Spanish and French faculty. It really wouldn't be saving the college money.
Gaeliel: What do we need Greek for, anyway?
MacEwen: Hey!
Somebody: Blah blah blah budget blah meeting blah blah committee.
Ocasio: Okay, it's quarter past one, so we should probably end this meeting now.
George: Drink Coca-Cola!
Burianek: German is an important language to learn for many reasons--for example, more people in Europe now speak German than English or any other language. Also, as the business language for a large part of the world, it is especially important to know in our increasingly globalized community.
Kennedy: I agree, and also think that German is an important language to learn for students of history. It's a big part of my own life, and a big part of what I teach. To illustrate my point, I will pass around some artifacts. she hands out Mein Kampf, a letter from Bernd, and several Weimar-era million-mark notes Also, there is absolutely no way I would have done the Global Connections trip to Germany and Poland if none of the students had been able to get along in German.
IR prof: But aren't, say, Chinese and Arabic important too? Why are you trying to bring them down, man? Why is German so special?
Burianek: Um...because we already have a pretty good German department? And I didn't say German was more important than Chinese or Arabic.
A discussion begins on the value of Chinese. Ten minutes later:
Ocasio: ...okay, but the fact remains that we just don't have the resources to put together a decent Chinese department.
Gaeliel: Have you people all forgotten that this is a liberal arts college? Where is the logic in getting rid of German at a liberal arts college? [She actually said several things, all of which I agreed with completely and have somehow managed to forget.]
Nicoline: Nobody's going to be able to learn enough of some random language for it to be useful, anyway.
Me: Seriously, which is better, a grad-school-level knowledge of German, or a grade-school-level knowledge of something else? Also, I've actually found German to be useful in classes I've taken outside the department. Liberal arts college and all that. Oh, and you have to know German to get into some grad school math programs.
Nicoline: Same deal with art history, actually. Except all the grad schools require German for their art history programs.
Burianek: Wait, why are we talking about replacing German with some other language? Wasn't German going to get it because of budget cuts?
George: I was just going to get to that...so yeah, budget cuts. Hey, gotta let something go.
Burianek: That would make sense if German weren't one of the more cost-effective departments at the college.
French prof (I think): See, and if you cut German...I believe the plan was to create more sections of French and Spanish so students could fulfill their language requirement? Well, we could do that, but then we'd need more Spanish and French faculty. It really wouldn't be saving the college money.
Gaeliel: What do we need Greek for, anyway?
MacEwen: Hey!
Somebody: Blah blah blah budget blah meeting blah blah committee.
Ocasio: Okay, it's quarter past one, so we should probably end this meeting now.
George: Drink Coca-Cola!
