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E-PrinceLike many other Princeton students, I spent my Fall Break not going home and relaxing, but on one of the Pace Center’s BreakOut trips, learning about Deaf culture and public policy in Washington, D.C. One of the key ...(back to the article)
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Seriously... we need more kids from Oxford. Every article I have read by Rob Day is insightful, well-reasoned and supported, and most of all, something that isn't trite or talked about 16 times a day, like Eating Clubs or Grade Deflation. I love it.
agree with Loyal Watchdog here. and rob, this is an excellent idea!
I think that every student should have to study (or have studied in high school), a 'living' language that requires speaking, listening, reading and writing. While I think it would be great for Princeton to offer ASL for credit, I don't think it should fulfill the language requirement, just as I don't think Latin/Greek and other 'dead' languages should either. Students should have to learn a foreign language that includes all facets of communication, not just reading/writing, as for Latin and Greek, or speaking/listening as for ASL.
Oh my god, not this guy again!
Thanks you Mr. Day for a reasoned and appropriate take on ASL and the curriculum. I hope there is a way the University could take heed.
so true! I would love to take ASL if they had it here. It's the third most common language in North America! (granted, very far behind Spanish, but still, people can learn Greek...)
In regards to 09's comment: ASL doesn't have a written version because it already exists in a visual format. Therefore, you learn to "read", "write" and "speak" a language all in one modality. Your implication that ASL is an inferior language just because it doesn't look like spoken languages is dismissive and insulting. Learning exactly how ASL is different is a crtical part of the horizon expanding experience that is part and parcel of why people learn foreign languages.
I was about to respond to 09 but thankfully, another interpreter beat me to it! ASL should fulfill language requirements. I think it's shameful that Princeton doesn't already offer ASL classes, honestly. I'm glad I didn't go to an ivy league school and went to a public university, for the main reason that had I gone to an ivy league school I probably wouldn't have found my "passion."
Rob, you're right on! There is a critical shortage of interpreters across the nation. An ASL/deaf studies program would enhance university life for bright deaf students and develop future skilled interpreters. Go for it! Interpreting is an important and extremely rewarding profession. The U. of Illinois has a flourishing ASL program with deaf professors and staff. We currently have nine deaf undergrads and grad students enrolled at the UI. Our deaf students have received Ph.D. degrees in engineering, biochemistry, and linguistics for example. Some are now professors or work in major corporations. Deaf students and interpreters add a lively dimension to universities and the community at large. Princeton, get with it! We need more interpreters with high-level academic backgrounds to meet the needs of America's deaf students now and in the future. We especially need qualified educated interpreters for our courts and medical providers, and for deaf students who want to pursue a variety of professions.
09 -- Huh? I am not aware that we are dead. I am not aware that over 2 millions of us in America are dead, because ASL language is dead, according to you. No, no, it is very much alive. In fact, the interest in it has grown at a pace never seen before. The author of this article failed to mention that at many campuses, there are a long wait list to enroll in ASL, and many more colleges have approved offering this course, but they cannot, due to severe shortage of those who can teach ASL. Do understand that there are many of us who teach, but that the pace of the demand merely exceed the ability of the programs to train ASL teachers. The language is very much alive, and is used widely across the country, thank you!