To the Editor:
I’m taking Spanish here this year. It’s my second semester to take a foreign language in college and I love it. It allows me to be creative. Plus, it’s nice to have a class that doesn’t eat up all your time with ridiculous homework or threaten to lower your GPA drastically. Very nice.
But unfortunately, life isn’t perfect or fair or easy, and that means that foreign languages, along with creative writing classes, won’t be an option for us here anymore. And as sad as that is, we’re just going to have to deal with it. I suppose complaining and making a scene about it is a way of dealing with it, but I’d like to propose another option: Shut up and move on.
May I remind you that, if you’re enrolled here at RPI, you’re one of the more privileged young people in America—in the world. So you can’t take more liberal arts classes at your university. Big deal. You go to a university (well, an Institute actually, but that was your choice). You’re given the precious opportunity of advanced education. You can graduate with a degree that’s worth something.
And in the meantime, while you’re still working toward that degree, you can learn a foreign language by yourself (try Rosetta Stone—I have a friend who really likes it). Or you can do some creative writing on your own, just because you feel like it (maybe if it’s good The Poly will print it). Or you can take courses at other schools if you don’t necessarily have the motivation to do things alone (Russell Sage College is just down the hill). Just because we don’t have language or writing classes here doesn’t mean we’re stuck being those nerdy engineering people who can’t communicate or can’t write. We don’t have to succumb to that stereotype. We can learn to do those things by ourselves. We don’t need some school or professor to hold our hand and teach us. Aren’t we always asking people to treat us like adults? Well then, let’s act like adults and stop expecting people to satisfy our every desire. There’s a big world out there, people, and we’re not the center of it.
So next time you bristle at the thought of the administration cutting classes that you want to take, do something constructive. Pull out a book and read it, or pick up a pen and write, and make yourself well-rounded instead of blaming RPI for making you so nerdy. It’s way better than being the pain-in-the-butt kid who just sits around and complains about stuff (at least, for the rest of us who have to put up with you). And remember: Your education—your life—is what you make of it.
Leslie Vorce
MECL ‘11
