Sunday, August 26, 2012

Conversacion y Controversia

Today is dreary, rainy, wet and cold in Central Illinois.  I love it, in general, but the persistent heat is making everything feel like a sauna of sorts.  So with today being a rain day, I decided to tackle homework instead of... well, tackling homework (had to be done either way, but it felt nicer being inside without the sun teasing me).  

As I was reading my Spanish book, I had a lightbulb moment.  For, you see, my book is entitled "Conversacion y Controversia" or, for all you monolingual people, "Conversation and Controversy."  The textbook goes through modern issues and gives "both sides" to read and reflect on.  The book uses conventional Spanish vocabulary and writing style (so the text is "real"), it simply is a book that would be read more in the fifth or sixth grade for a native-speaker.   I can easily understand the book, especially by context, on these issues.

What I realized while reading today about whether 2100 A.D. will be a pleasant or horrible place to live is that this is what national dialogue is becoming, or as I fear more likely, became.  A dumbed down, pick one or the other, sound-bite driven, black and white issue book.

And when trying to learn a second language?  That works well!  It is even kind of fun!  Being able to read and understand what any Spanish speaking fifth grader is reading is awesome (coincidently, most newspapers are written at a fifth grade level).

But when we're using the same method of conversation and controversy to govern a country...? Well, 2100 never looked scarier.

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