Who are the Responsible People?

During one of my classes yesterday, some students started speaking Slovak. As usual, I reminded them that English is the only language spoken in the classroom. A few moments later, I heard Slovak again. I reminded them again. A few seconds later, some Slovak passed through my ears.


"All right," I began. "Put your grammar books away and take out an A4 sheet of paper." (In Europe they have different paper. A4 is like the size of a letter paper but a little bigger. "You will write a 5-paragraph essay on speaking English in English class. Your thesis will be: speaking English is the best choice in English class."


The class was very irritated, especially those not speaking Slovak. One of my students, who never speaks Slovak in class, asked why he had to write it when he didn't speak Slovak. I told him that it was required of everyone. If one person is at fault, then all are.


After class, I read through the essays. Most of the students took the assignment seriously and wrote about how though it is difficult to speak a foreign language, the only way to learn is to try. Some brought up good reasons for not speaking English in class, which, though they were good reasons, were not a part of the assignment.

One of the essays completely disregarded the assignment and became a rant for how this student does not like literature and that one does not need to read literature to learn a language. Usually, we hate what we do not understand. This student rarely pays attention in class and does not take reading seriously.

In the essay, the student wrote how we should not read in class but talk about "important" topics, such as our interests, our family life, and our holidays. The student said that these are the conversations that people need to know how to have when learning a language. Though I do agree that it is important to know how to talk about these topics, I have never had a conversation above superficiality in which how I spent my Easter and the Jungle Bus were all I desired to discuss.

(I will break here for a moment to say that I feel I could have an intellectual conversation about the Jungle Bus. The Jungle Bus is the Bus 80, which takes me to school, that looks like a jungle on the inside and outside. The sides and ceiling is covered in trees and leaves with the sunlight shining through. I have thrice ridden on the Jungle Bus. When I rode on it this morning, I forgot I was going to school and thought I was on an adventure to find the Jungle Book and learn about the Bear Necessities)

In literature, we have an opportunity to learn other worldviews and discuss questions of ultimacy. We can discuss the meaning of life and how to live like the carpe diem poets wanted to live. If we can discuss such issues, how much easier will it be to discuss the beauty of riding to school in the rainforest?

In college, several professors told me that those students who receive a degree in a traditional "and what are you going to do with that?" degree (literature, religion, psychology, philosophy) succeed more in the business level than those who receive business degrees in college.

Furthermore, this student does not see the purposefulness of literature and refuses to understand that nearly every American knows who Holden Caulfield is and has read "The Raven." Who wants to just learn the grammar of a language? I have never said to myself in a conversation with a non-native speaker, "Wow, what incredible grammar you have? Forget what you think about American and British literature, let me hear some more of that breathtaking perfect grammar in a few sentences about how you spent your weekend?"

In my short life, I can at least guess that most people desire to go beneath the surface conversations and partake in intellectual conversations. Perhaps I am wrong.

At the end of the essay the student wrote, "I hope that the responsible people will look out for our best interest." This student would make a great satirist. Unfortunately, this student has confused responsibility and irresponsibility, cannot see the usefulness in the seemingly useless, and has a vendetta against any piece of literature or anything that requires the brain.

I hope the responsible people remain responsible.