Class Thus Far

I think that rhetoric and composition could have a positive effect on the classroom. I think that it is interesting and essential to challenge the way that students think, and to get their opinions on topics. I believe that language has a major impact on people and culture, but I do not believe that language has the power to change people or culture on its own. I think that there is too much credit given to language on its own in this class. I think that more credit needs to be given to the people that create and preserve language, rather than what it can do on its own, since I feel that language cannot do anything without a medium to transport it.

I also think that not enough credit is given to oral language in this class as well. Without stories, language would not expand or transfer through generations. Children first learn to understand language, then to speak it, and finally to read it. Therefore, the spoken word is just as important, if not more so, than that of the written.

I do think that written language is absolutely essential to modern society, especially since I plan to teach English. But for people to be able to write well, they must first be able to think and speak well.

Impact of Language on Humans

First and foremost, I do not believe that language has an impact on humans. I think that humans impact language, which in turn impacts other humans. Therefore, the humans are doing the only substantial work to change anything.

I think that the art of learning language, however, can have a profound impact on an individual if communicated in the right way. There is no blanket "right" way to do so; it depends on everyone's individual needs. As a future teacher, I find it imperative to find a method to communicate the way to learn language in a manner to which it will impact all of my students, regardless of their academic or other preferences. I think that in order to be able to accomplish that, it's important to have at least a basic knowledge of other languages as well.

To me, the most important aspect of language is the ability to communicate between languages, or at least cultures. I think that each country across the world has succeeded in creating an operative education system, but without being able to communicate with one another, it is difficult to say that we are still moving forward.

Blog 1- Language

It is my personal belief that language is not here to "save" us. If it was to be the great moral reformer of sorts, then it would only communicate ideas that were good and would help mankind. However, we still know words like "hate," "evil," "bad," etc. If language was the most powerful component that mankind has in this world, then how is it that it has not evolved past negative and potentially harmful language?

Why do racist, sexist, and otherwise offensive langauge still exist, if language should be our outlet into a more positively progressive society? Additionally, why does mankind not make an effort to be able to communicate with all other people, regardless of their native language? Even the most cultured of people speak at most 3 or 4 languages, with exception of the rare individual that may study up to 8 or so languages. However, the mast majority of Americans speak only English, with no attempt to study any other language past what is required of them in high school.

Finally, I think that the term language is much too broad to try to name it a moral reformer. Language consists of many components that have nothing to do with actual interpersonal communication. People must be able to first think, then think in a language, and finally learn how to manipulate that language into speech, reading, and writing. First though, you have to get people to learn to communicate with one another universally, which I don't think will happen in even our grandchildren's lifetimes.