<p>I’m in a dilemma in choosing my foreign language class.</p>
<p>I took 4 years of spanish and got a 5 on the ib spanish exam, so I’m decent at that language. However, I’m not very interested in further studying it in Columbia.</p>
<p>I am more interested in studying Korean. I am korean but cannot speak korean well at all. Would I get graded harder or be put on higher expectations because I am korean and studying the korean language?</p>
<p>In short, no. Do a bit of thinking, why would they grill you?</p>
<p>well there is one chinese instructor that does grade white students harder or so the legend goes. but he/she is upper level.</p>
<p>but honestly - so long as you do the work, you’re fine. it is time intensive though, not going to sugar coat it.</p>
<p>Yeah, take the placement test. And you’ll be placed in a course that best caters to your abilities. If the teacher then grades you harsher because you’re Korean, then that’s just racism.</p>
<p>um, what if the teacher is korean? would it still then be racist? if the teacher is let’s say chinese, would it be racist? are koreans their own race or an ethnicity?</p>
<p>throwing the racism word around isn’t the most productive.</p>
<p>First of all, you know what I mean by that generic term (it could have have a specific meaning though). I couldn’t care less about the distinctions among race, ethnicity, nationality, species, caste, what have you.</p>
<p>Second of all, you’re getting muddleheaded yourself. Let’s say racism (behavioral) is a subset of discrimination. By definition, then, racism occurs regardless of the identity of the agent (here, the teacher). It’s about singling out the victim’s race and giving him/her a different treatment because of it. Whether the person doing the singling out is Korean, Chinese, or the Sun is irrelevant.</p>
<p>no. that’s not what racism is, at least not in the academy. so i can’t consider it a fair treatment of the word, its meaning, its history and its present day usage.</p>
<p>[Racism</a> vs Racialism - Daniel Hindes](<a href=“http://www.danielhindes.com/blog/archives/2005/04/racism-vs-racia.html]Racism”>Racism vs Racialism - Daniel Hindes)</p>
<p>as a good beginning. racialism is the kind of softer form of discrimination that covers for the most part all manner of unconscious sins. sins that are often natural because prejudice is natural.</p>
<p>racism is such the pejorative that its use ought to and has in fact been reserved for actions that go beyond the unconscious or even the superficial, but strike deeply into the kind of blatant discrimination where someone acts on their prejudices in a tangibly felt way. but there is of course the question of can racism be used in intra-race, is it a concept that needs to be well-defined, or is it loose. these are big questions - far bigger than just some flippant use of the word.</p>
<p>so why use racism unless you want to get a rise out of folks. why not use as you even note is the more proper supra category of discrimination. </p>
<p>but beyond that you get lazy on here a lot - i still don’t get why. what do you gain by just being a jerk? some false intellectual high? if what you were saying was…true or honest, then maybe we would be in a different place. but it is just you trying to be bellicose and (as you’ve admitted in other posts) to get your fill as you procrastinate for the sake of it on here, and still what you’re saying isn’t true - that kind of brings out the sheriff in me.</p>
<p>I think I already made it clear that I was using the term racism in a general sense such that both (the) hoi polloi and the discerning understand what I’m talking about (I know you do; you’re just critiquing my diction). Fine, that leads to point 2, which is strongly implicit in what I wrote: I don’t really care about racism (or racialism, or sociology); I don’t find it intellectually rigorous enough; and by the way I did start reading the article. :)</p>
<p>Call my actions lazy if that makes you happy, but that still doesn’t make the fact that people know what I’m talking about any different.</p>
<hr>
<p>That was all I had to say about the body of your argument. Now about your final paragraph, which is full of ad hominem attacks.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I’m so very sorry for hurting your feelings or perturbing your perceptions of truth, but I know I’m just as entitled to have an opinion (about truth). And I agree with the apodosis. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>First of all this is highly presumptuous. I could just as well question your motives for writing on this website (as I know other posters have; beardtax comes to mind). Second of all you’re the provoker. I merely agreed with what you said, and referred to racism as an afterthought to show that it’s highly unlikely a teacher would be thus prejudiced. (This I’m sure a lot of other readers would get.) And you pick apart that single word without regard for the overall message. Who started the fight?</p>
<p>Third (of all), I can only think of one post where I admitted to bellicosity, and not even bellicosity per se.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Let me start by saying that this is an internet forum, where people understandably drop some of their politesse and are more direct (than in direct dialogue). That said, if my posts were rude to the OP’s ears, I apologize. For I had no such intentions. I, just as you admissionsgeek, wanted to help him/her out with as much information, as little verbosity, and just a hint of wit. I will take it upon myself to improve if I haven’t achieved my goal.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Hey, isn’t this the Columbia you portray so vividly in your other messages of 500+ words? ;)</p>
<p>Interesting blog AG</p>
<p>Okay, regardless of discriminations, it would not be a disadvantage or bad idea to take korean fresh over spanish and four yrs of experience?</p>
<p>I dont think you would be at a disadvantage, but it depends on how you look at it. If you continue with spanish you may be able to leave columbia very fluent in the language(even more than you are now). Also you will be starting at a higher level than you would for korean, so most likely(im not 100% sure on this one), youll have to take less classes to fulfill language requirement-you could probably also test out for spanish.
If you take korean you will be exposed to something new and that you are interested in.In addition as previously mentioned you will be placed in a class acccording to your ability in korean, so i think everyone will assume youre in that class because youre at the same level as them-if the teacher grades you harder because you are korean well then i guess you should say something to your advisor or someone…but i doubt this will be the case…i mean your in that class because you are at a certain level…they are not going to put you in a higher level class just because you are korean.</p>
<p>In any case it really depends on what your goals are if you want to leave columbia extremely proficient in a language then continue spanish-it will take you less classes to become extremely proficient since you will be starting at a more advanced level than korean. Really though this is your time to explore what you want to …so if you really want to do korean then do it.
If it helps i did spanish for five years and i plan to do something like hebrew or greek in which i have no experience. Ive thought about the fact that i could become more fluent in spanish…but when you think about it…its much easier for you to pick up spanish in the future because its popular and youre already at an advanced level…it may be more difficult to pick up korean.</p>
<p>Just my thoughts…but i hope it helps…i guess these are some of the questions we will ask our advisors during orientation.</p>
<p>my opinion here:</p>
<p>study your butt off, take the spanish placement test, possibly test OUT of spanish (or nearly out). and take korean on your free time. this way you don’t feel compelled to finish korean if for some reason you don’t like it, feel discriminated against, or just don’t like the idea of taking a 5 credit slog fest 5 days a week.</p>
<p>as i recall the spanish test is pretty comparable to what you’d need to know for the IB or AP, so take out one of those study guides and work at it for 2 weeks or so before orientation, read spanish newspapers, etc. if you don’t study you may be put in a lower section rendering the idea of taking the test not helpful.</p>
<p>Ideally, you could test out of Spanish. Then you won’t even have to take a language; it would all be optional. You could still take Korean if you wanted to, but you would have already fulfilled the language requirement. If you take the test and don’t test out, then don’t worry; just start a new language like Korean and take it for two years to fulfill the requirement.</p>
<p>When is the placement test?</p>
<p>And thanks for all the genuine and helpful advice guys!!!</p>
<p>usually it is during orientation week - you get an email during nsop that says when and where it is. usually toward the end of the week.</p>