Busy, Busy Writers

In response to the only email I could find, an email to The New Republic, I got an automatic response. To sum it up, it said that they would probably not get back to me and my email would be discarded, but thanks for showing an interest in the magazine. That is why I will only be posting my original email in this post:

Dear John McWhorter at The New Republic,

I am a student at Roncalli High School in an AP Language and Composition class. For a blog assignment, we were assigned an op ed writer to analyze the writings of and reflect on them. For a specific blog, we were assigned to read a recent article and state the claim sentence, the concession, three support points to the writer's claim, and a list of examples used by the writer. I also had to state whether I agreed or disagreed with the article's argument. For this assignment, I used your articled named "Which Languages Should Liberal Arts Be About in 2010?" The reason for this email is to ask for related issues to this article that I blogged about. I would love to learn more and hear about issues that relate. I would also like to know what articles you recommend me reading of yours. Thank you for your time, and I love reading your articles and opinions.

Link to the article: http://www.tnr.com/blog/john-mcwhorter/79843/which-languages-should-liberal-arts-be-about-in-2010
Link to my blog: http://paigebippus.blogspot.com/

Thanks,
Paige Bippus

Oh, foreign languages...

In John McWhorter's most recent article, he talks about the importance of languages in universities. His claim is that languages other than French, German, and Italian are more important to the changing world of linguistics and language and that learning the other languages would be more beneficial for the future.

The concession, or counterargument, is:
"Should students be able to take French, German and Italian if they want to? Of course. But should it be expected that any university worth its salt have majors in those languages? I doubt it."

The writer makes three points to support his claim. First, he says that the small European countries are too small to be significant in the growing world. Second, a solid education in other languages besides these three will expose people to the differences in language in culture. The third support he uses is that other languages, such as Chinese, would benefit the future generations more. For support on this example, McWhorter states:

• China and other economies are going to surpass the United States' economy in the future.
• Technologies we create are/will be tested in China.
• China is simply happening. Italy, on the other hand, is not.

I agree with McWhorter's arguement because I believe since the world is changing, so should the standard of language. China and Japan are the centers of technology today. In order for us to keep up and for the world to communicate, we need to be open to other languages. German culture isn't as prominent in America as it used to be, and neither is French. Therefore, adapting to today's culture is a crucial component of cultural awareness and technology.