An Alien in the Foreign

In David Sedaris' 'Me Talk Pretty One Day', the story is told of a man who travels to France to take a language class.  He is already scared to begin with, and is then thrown into a foreign country with its social and linguistic norms.  He exclaims that "...it's everybody into the language pool, sink or swim." (219)  He feels so out-of-place that he even resists going shopping or out because "...those things were out of the question, as they involved having to speak..." (221)


He is then introduced to his language class where the teacher is the opposite of what we would have expected.  Perhaps there is extreme satire in the teacher's character or perhaps she is being rude for a purpose.  She seems to motivate her students by acting rude and insulting.  Her diction and mockery makes her students fear her and her class, which helps them work harder than they probably would have if she was easygoing.


Sedaris says things like "...we would now be scolded for..." (221) which illustrates the idea that they are consistently ridiculed for even the simplest of things.  And quite harshly at that.  He says later in his memoir, "The teacher's reaction led me to believe that these mistakes were capital crimes in the country of France." (220)  He and the other students were shamed for not being completely fluent in the language.


Gabby brought up an interesting point in class.  She said that it was interesting that the author could speak publically and write flawlessly in English but had the hardest time even constructing a single sentence when he visited France.

Why Rush Childhood?

In Leon Botstein's 'Let Teenagers Try Adulthood', the idea of teenagers growing up quickly is discussed.  He believes that since society forces teens to do "grown-up" things while we are still young, the school system should develop to meet these levels as well.  If children are getting pregnant before they become adults then shouldn't they as well be able to make responsible decisions like where to work and how to do it?


Absolutely not.  The immature teenager in me wants to agree with his comments on lowering the graduation age to sixteen.  However, I myself am a sixteen years old and have no clue what I want to do in the future.  I hate to admit it, but staying in school until I am eighteen is probably the only way for me to find out what my true passion is.


I enjoy mathematics.  I tend to do well in them and I like the idea that all problems have an exact answer; there is no room for interpretation.  As I take higher level math classes at my school, I am starting to realize that not all math comes easily to me.  I am often very confused and am starting to think that things like imaginary solutions and complex conjugates are not what I want to continue to do in my life.  By staying in high school and taking the assigned classes, I am able to be subjected to the basics which is, in turn, helping me further explore my interests.


"Stay young as long as you can, cause when you grow old you can't get it back."