The American educational system has failed me.
As a business major I've never had to take a sociology class. But what I'm having problems with is my history class. In all of my educational career, I have never been taught any Latin American history. ABSOLUTELY NONE. Nada. Zip. Zilch. It leaves me asking myself how I made it this far not having any inkling that the Incas existed or that South America is really considerd th first America. I feel dumb sitting in class because all of this is new to me. Not just Peruvian history, but any Latin American history. Before coming here, I couldn't name a single major leader. I could barely name the president (Alan Garcia).
Everyone speaks English. This is an over damatization but it's too close to being true. In all of the foreign countries I 've ever been to( Europe, China) english was taught as a second language. Children grow up actively speaking 2 langages. At the place I volunteer, there are people from other countries like France and Belgium, so they speak Spanish and a little english, plus maybe a little bit of another language. While I had intermittent spanish classes throughout my career. When I went to Germany, I met another girl who was the same age as me (16 at th time). She spoke German, English, and was going to start spanish classes soon. What is wrong with us as Americans if we can't learn to speak just one other language? Why was I never required to take a foreign language for longer than just a year or two? Why was it optional for me as an American student but required of students everywhere else in the world?
It's not an overdramatization to say that everyone knows American history. Ok. Maybe it is. But my point is, most people know enough American history to put me to shame. Granted, I'm not a history buff, but it's really a problem that the world knows the U.S. better than I do. My host parents keep track of the dollar and watch CNN. A vendor at a market asked me how I felt about Obama so far. I read BBC online everday and American news is covered. Yet the only time Latin American countries make the news in the states is when there's something bad like a natual disaster or miners trapped for 69 days. So maybe not quite Ameican history, but it's embarrassing when people know what's going on in your country more than you do. And it's not because they want to, it's because they have to. And to me that doesn't make any sense.
How can I be an international business major, or just a world citizen, when all I know is what's right in front of me? I know that I'm not the only person who feels like this. Yes. I blame the educational system for all of this. I've taken more than one World History class and it focused on every continent except Lain America.
We've got to do better.
I agree completely! When Katrina, Alicia, and I were in the Arequipa airport on Monday waiting for our flight back to Lima, we ran into a Norwegian girl that Katrina has a class with. I didn't even realize for the longest time that she was Norwegian as I seem to not pay attention to WHICH accent I'm hearing now..
ReplyDeleteWe got into a conversation about why the US doesn't teach languages because she knows perfect English-part a result of having watched the majority of things on television in English, but also because they start teaching English in the early years of education. ALSO, they then move on to choose a THIRD language...talk about being worldly.
Screw sports, I'm forcing my kids to take language classes while their minds are malleable.
Amy, that's exactly my point! The few classes that I did have before college were electives and eventually I had to choose between them or music. Learning another language shouldn't be an "elective" choice. It hould be required like math or science.
ReplyDeleteLess than 15 percent of U.S. citizens own a passport and of those 15 percent, few probably engage in the type of travel you have elected for yourself, Alisa. I couldn't agree with you more. Knowing a little about the rest of the world should not be a choice. Sadly, language classes and coursework in global understanding are not required. Universities often explicitly state that their objectives include equipping students to better understand the world. How they can do this without requiring some sort of "global" component is beyond my comprehension...
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