Understanding is not Speaking

In David Sedaris’ essay Me Talk Pretty One Day he talks about his struggle going to school in Paris. Although he writes satirically this story is very real for anyone learning to speak a new language. In our AP Language class we have read many stories about the suppression of non-English speaking immigrants in America. It is clear that, while they may be highly intelligent, because they cannot express their thoughts with proper and elegant language they are seen as inferior to those English speakers who use such sophisticated language, of which they are not even aware of the true meaning.

Taking a class in a language cannot really teach you how to communicate with it’s speakers. Sedaris had taken a French class in New York but once he got to France he realized how little of the language he knew. When Sedaris could not understand all the words his teacher said he could understand the nature of it but her tone of voice and body language.

Over time Sedaris learned to understand the French language. He was able to know what was being said to him but he could not “talk pretty”.  He could not carry himself with confidence in what he was saying. He did not know all the slang and figures of speech. There is a lot more to understand in a language than just it’s words. Its about understanding the culture and the people. Its about knowing what to say when and how. To truly be able to speak French Sedaris would need to learn to become French.

American School System

The school system of America is no doubt flawed. In Leon Botstein's article Let Teenagers Try Adulthood he proposes the fact that children are reaching adolescence at an earlier age. The culture of our society has become increasingly sexualized and children are reaching physical maturity at an earlier age. These two facts are what Botstein uses to support his argument that the school system should start at an earlier age (4) and end earlier as well (16).
While I completely agree with Botstein that the school system needs some major renovations I think his support for his argument is weak. There are millions of reasons that the school system is messed up but his argument does not make sense to me. He says that the school system needs to end when students are 16 because that is when they are ready to "enter the real world" since they are physically and sexually mature. So by this argument reaching puberty and losing your virginity make you an adult and no longer need school. A 16 year old may or may not know what they want to do with their lives. Even if they have an idea of what they'd like to do they do not have enough knowledge and experience to be able to work in that career. Whether or not you are a virgin has nothing to do with it.
The school system does need to be changed. I agree with Botstein that middle school should be eliminated. I think that up until our current 8th grade students should learn a basis of many different subjects as they do now. Then high school should be structured more like an undergraduate school. There some core classes will be required but students will also have an ability to choose classes. This was students who know what they want to do can focus there classes into a specific field while students who are unsure can study many different things until they find something they enjoy. The school system also needs to be unified so that it is ensured you can get the same education everywhere. Botstein's idea of changing the school system is great but I do not agree with his reasoning for it. Whatever the reason is we can all agree that the school system needs some modifications.