Synthesizing Education

This week, David Loitz asked me a really interesting question following a post discussing the value of student ownership. The question was this:

What are the points of complex words or any words for that matter?

I was really struck and found this to be an amazing question to ponder. I’m actually still thinking about my own answer and whether there is anything more that I want to consider or if I am on the right track. My answer to David’s question is below (and in the comments section of the post).

What’s your answer?

This could end up being a very long answer with two parts:

First, I believe that we learn language for the same reason we learn Trigonometry, Calculus, Chemistry, and many other subjects in school. It isn’t so much the need to know the information as it is for us to experience a wide variety of genres and expand our thinking. It just so happens that language transfers from course to course so, in my view, it should be at a level that is representative of this type of immersion.

Now, I absolutely agree that vocabulary should not be learned as an island with no regard for context, but the reality is that it isn’t even being covered within context. I don’t think that advanced vocabulary and wording should be promoted as a way to maintain an elitist society (as most people do), but I do think that maintaining some form of complexity in language and communication is important in expanding minds and teaching students how to think. This mentality is in stark contrast to the traditional beliefs of language and vocabulary that elitists promote as you have pointed out. (To those people you and I can team up and throw rocks at them. They are simply morons.)

Second, I am concerned about a diminishing ability of students to think critically about the words and language they use to present themselves and about their inability to decipher mainstream language as the world evolves. How do I see this happening? Engage in conversations with enough high school students and you will notice a pattern of immature vocabulary that consists of an overuse of “like” as well as other “fillers” and the occasional street jargon. I notice this across the board from Advanced Placement students to first week freshman.

As the population expands and record numbers enter the workforce, employers are going to be looking for ways to differentiate between applicants. Do they need to run around and cite information in APA form? Of course not as that would be asinine. But the reality is that employers want educated people that can represent the company in a positive light, which includes their appearance. Language is a part of this.

My main point isn’t to ensure elitist scholarly work and elitist language. We all know that those people are NEVER heard by mainstream society and their ideas EVER utilized simply because they use language and jargon to maintain their cult. I want kids to develop advanced vocabulary and language to ensure an adequate ability to think and have a larger menu of options to pursue upon graduation. Regardless of how we believe culture to progress, there is some validity to the correlation of language proficiency and options following graduation.

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