Maybe it should be easy, but I certainly hear a lot of people complain that they’re “terrible in English” and “hate English.” Of course, part of that is the great divide between speaking your native tongue and writing in it. More than anything, English majors have to do a great deal of writing, and many go on to become professional communicators. Law schools also value the degree in applicants as it may be a good indicator of an aptitude for writing ability.
Exactly. If writing in your first language is so easy, why is that I spend 4 hours a day tutoring college students on how to write in their first language? Sometimes I get papers so awful that they make me weep for the future. Writing English, especially in formal language, is much different from either reading or speaking and more difficult. People who are not already proficient with the written word would have a very difficult time as an English major.
Also, English requires knowledge in several fields. History, sociology, psychology, politics, even science. I’ve learned more about history doing research for essays than I did in any history course.
It requires sharp analytical skills. People who cannot read and analyze text do miserably in English courses. I’ve had a few that classes were simultaneously major requirements and general education requirements for all the students, and the students who took it for GE sucked. A lot. They couldn’t analyze short stories or poems on any level. Which didn’t bother me because I sucked a lot in math and economics.
The point is, despite how “easy” it sounds, not everybody can do it, and some who can don’t necessarily do it well.
When I go to the USA that canb e for the folowing reasons:
because I have a family business there = I contribute to your economy and give US’ers jobs.
because I have firends there
because I go on holiday there
It is not to study on the “evils” or eventually the “goods” of your society. It is also not to undertake a research on the education system/university programs.
I give you credit on that in the sense that the fact that they have a degree at this age was of course an open invitation to compare with visible the lack of working brains of their father.
I asked what it entails and the answer to that came. And showed to be indeed at first sight a very easy studyfield when I compare it with what I know of my university.
That is why I said that a thread in GD would be interesting to go further into this.
[quote)If an American made these sorts of superficial, dismissive and ignorant comments about another nation or culture, we’d say that person personified the stereotype of the “Ugly American”. It’s just as embarassing and unacceptable coming from a non-American.[/quote)
You should have waited with your comments until that thread on GD was up and running. Which shall be in the coming days.
We did not even start a comparison between US education system and other education systems worldwide.
But as I know you, every “reason” to dismiss, attack and twist whatever I write on these forums is good for you. So I don’t hold my breath you participating in such a thread without giving in to your clear prejudices and without any other intent then disrail it into one long rant on what my “intentions” are in your misty mind.
It is not relevant to expound on why you allegedly visit America. Here’s what Tea Elle asked you in your GD thread about support for Bush: “Aldebaran, given that you don’t live in the U.S., have admittedly not been to the U.S. in quite a while (if at all, forgive me for not remembering your entire CV) and could not possibly be as informed about the nuances of American politics as those of us who actually live here, why do you think that you have standing to question Americans on their political decisions in such an arrogant and condescending manner?” Your response was:
So the obvious conclusion is that you have had ample opportunity to develop a knowledge base regarding the matters on which you expound, which can be neatly summarized as Amerika Sux. This thread confirms your ignorance on the subject of American education.
It crosses beyond ignorance into wilful stupidity when you continue to suggest that the Bush children’s age on getting a bachelor’s degree is some kind of indicator of intelligence, or that it proves that their father is not intelligent. It has already been pointed out here that Bush graduated from Yale University at age 21, an extremely common age for university graduation in the U.S., and that in any case age at graduation is a poor indicator of intelligence. You really should read before posting.
Why promote the idea of a GD thread when you’ve already made up your mind on the subject?
Irony…gotta love it.
If you get off on posting ill-informed, immature and xenophobic rants, have at it. Just don’t waste our time with these pitiful attempts at self-justification.
:rolleyes: No, getting a 4 year degree in 6 years does not make you stupid. Stop twisting his words. His point was that getting a 4 year degree in 3 years means that it’s very likely that you are intelligent.