A light day of posting. The ebb and flow of a school. This is the time of year of midyear reports and college recommendations. And some kids get kind of house buggy.
Enjoy your weekend...
Friday, January 9, 2009
Integrity Alert!
If the health care system is going to be reformed, than the quality of our research must be improved. And transparency is essential. Dan Carlat has long been on this issue:
It looks like Dr. Charles Nemeroff has found a way to wriggle out of the already loose leash clapped around his neck by Emory University.
For those who have forgotten about Dr. Nemeroff’s recent trials and tribulations, here’s a brief recap. He was the principal investigator of a $3.95 million NIH grant to study several drugs by GlaxoSmithKline. But he was at the same time making hundreds of thousands of dollars doing promotional talks for the same company...
It looks like Dr. Charles Nemeroff has found a way to wriggle out of the already loose leash clapped around his neck by Emory University.
For those who have forgotten about Dr. Nemeroff’s recent trials and tribulations, here’s a brief recap. He was the principal investigator of a $3.95 million NIH grant to study several drugs by GlaxoSmithKline. But he was at the same time making hundreds of thousands of dollars doing promotional talks for the same company...
Worth watching over the next few weeks...
(from Furious Seasons) Yesterday, I noted that CNN's chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta, a neurosurgeon, was expected to be named Surgeon-General of the US by President-Elect Barack Obama. I noted that I had concerns because Gupta struck me as a lightweight as a reporter--and I am in a position to make that kind of judgment--and that he had openly supported the use of the HPV vaccine Gardasil, well in advance of its FDA approval, and that he downplayed the risks of Vioxx, months before the drug's maker took the drug off the market and months before thousands of lawsuits erupted around the drug and how its risks were hidden by Merck.
I noted that I didn't want Gupta anywhere around mental health issues if he had such a track record of being wrong and intellectually incurious, but I hadn't been able to track down how Gupta had handled issues like depression and anti-depressants and suicide while at CNN. I've now rectified that and it is clear that Gupta screwed up his reporting on anti-depressants and suicide in 2004, ignoring evidence that was available to him before he went on-air.
In late 2003, Britain banned the use of anti-deperssants, excepting Prozac, in children under 18 years due to reports of suicides and suicidality. But nine months later, here's our Surgeon-General-to-be claiming children haven't committed suicide on these drugs. From Sept. 15, 2004 on CNN's "American Morning:"
Onward, research...
The UK has launched its first bank of donated brain tissue samples dedicated to autism research. The Brain Bank for Autism in Oxford should reveal more detail on cellular and molecular changes during the development of the disorder than brain scans alone. Such a bank already exists in the US.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
A rough draft of what we do here
TAS began as an idea for a small residential, martial arts based program in rural Bucks County Pennsylvania and has evolved into a small intensive high school with a classic liberal arts curriculum.
We work from several assumptions that we believe are strongly justified in light of our success in graduating healthy, optimistic, community oriented students.
1) Strong relationships with a variety of adults improves a teenager’s judgment and quality of life and improves the student’s relationship with his or her family.
2) Rules are no substitute for these relationships. Strong relationships built on trust and effective problem solving, are what motivates teenagers to work hard, try new things, and become emotionally open. Too many rules shift adult-student relationship to a custodial, rather than mutual, relationship.
3) These mutual relationships are also the basis for intellectual growth and challenge. Without support such risks are unjustified from the point of view of the student
4) Students of differing abilities and backgrounds contribute to each other’s growing interpersonal sophistication. Having such a variety also underscores each students actual uniqueness.
5) A small school (of 25-50 students) can be a coherent community in a way that larger entities can never be. Human organizations tend to self organize into groups of approximately that size. Consider small companies, extended families, military platoons, and circles of friends.
6) By anchoring a small community in a simple set of practices, expectations are clear, as are the means for meeting those expectations. Students are slowly and gently taught how to be aware of
themselves, how to regulate themselves, and how to accommodate the needs of others. Meditation and mindfulness training are key to this.
7) There is usually one adult for every five students. An important implication of this is that students do not set the tone at the school. Instead, older students are highly trusting of the teachers and role model this trust to the younger students. This enculturation makes it possible to reach students quickly and effectively, both academically and emotionally.
8) The rich support and simple structure of TAS allows us to be very responsive to a wide variety of students: ADHD, Depression, autistic spectrum, recovering drug abuse, sexual abuse, trauma, family chaos, developmental delays, generally unhappiness, and all types of school frustration and failure.
We work from several assumptions that we believe are strongly justified in light of our success in graduating healthy, optimistic, community oriented students.
1) Strong relationships with a variety of adults improves a teenager’s judgment and quality of life and improves the student’s relationship with his or her family.
2) Rules are no substitute for these relationships. Strong relationships built on trust and effective problem solving, are what motivates teenagers to work hard, try new things, and become emotionally open. Too many rules shift adult-student relationship to a custodial, rather than mutual, relationship.
3) These mutual relationships are also the basis for intellectual growth and challenge. Without support such risks are unjustified from the point of view of the student
4) Students of differing abilities and backgrounds contribute to each other’s growing interpersonal sophistication. Having such a variety also underscores each students actual uniqueness.
5) A small school (of 25-50 students) can be a coherent community in a way that larger entities can never be. Human organizations tend to self organize into groups of approximately that size. Consider small companies, extended families, military platoons, and circles of friends.
6) By anchoring a small community in a simple set of practices, expectations are clear, as are the means for meeting those expectations. Students are slowly and gently taught how to be aware of
themselves, how to regulate themselves, and how to accommodate the needs of others. Meditation and mindfulness training are key to this.
7) There is usually one adult for every five students. An important implication of this is that students do not set the tone at the school. Instead, older students are highly trusting of the teachers and role model this trust to the younger students. This enculturation makes it possible to reach students quickly and effectively, both academically and emotionally.
8) The rich support and simple structure of TAS allows us to be very responsive to a wide variety of students: ADHD, Depression, autistic spectrum, recovering drug abuse, sexual abuse, trauma, family chaos, developmental delays, generally unhappiness, and all types of school frustration and failure.
Eating Right
an upcoming retreat:
The Meal that is Just the Right Amount
"Amidst Zen liturgy, oryoki, the formal silent meal taken during meditation intensives, is one of the richest and most subtle practice and training opportunities. It offers participants an entry point for appreciating the power and the relevance of liturgy. Oryoki highlights the teachings on generosity, interdependence, and gratitude..."
I have been attending retreats at the Zen Mountain Monestary for about a year. I recommend looking into their programming.
My teacher is the founding master of the martial art Shim Gum Do (more on that later), and it is this lineage that our school evolved out of. American Zen seems to be in a constant process of synthesis. At ZMM they work from both the Soto and Rinzai schools. Here at TAS we have several influences at work.
The role of Zen and mindfulness here is very much evolving. Soon I will begin to post some things that will hopefully clarify how we began and how we are changing.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Empty Mind, Full Bellies
At nine o'clock we meditate. The students gather in the dharma room and sit quietly on cushions along the north wall. To the east is a simple altar. The altar is, in a sense, meaningless. A point of focus. The east. A brief ritual signals the beginning of the day. The students rise, in some disorder. They turn, face their cushions and bow their heads. Some go with one teacher for a quiet walking meditation. Some stay to sit zazen. Zazen is just sitting.
When the period ends, the students quietly move into the short wide hallway that opens the large dharma room to the rest of the building. Most eventually find their way into our small kitchen. Watch them: pouring coffee, making tea, toast, a plate of eggs or a bowl of oatmeal, talking about work, or home, or the previous evening. This is their kitchen. They chat with teachers, who start to move them toward nine-thirty five, when first classes begin.
There is a ten minute break at 10:25. More eating, usually. The sleepy bellies have woken, they must be fed. Some realize they are much more tired than they thought. One girl walks quickly to the bathroom. A few other students have gathered in the office, laughing with a teacher. In the foyer, several kids rifle through their cubbies, a few slump on the couches, a somnolent greeting to any who might come through our front doors.
Second period. Louder. Most everyone is awake. In the largest classroom, right next to the kitchen, the students are gathered around a large, oval table. This is also our dining room. But at this moment, eight students are in the Renaissance, enjoying the exuberant Borgias, or the witty Aquinas. Perhaps it is a geometry class, which some find a welcome relief from algebra, which others meet somewhat obtusely, and perhaps a few recognize that the whole thing is connected somehow.
But about half through the period, the scent of roasting and toasting, of herbs and peppers, of frying onions and garlic, come drifting in, and soon, like a gentle "ahem" throughout the building, we all realize that lunch is a mere hour and a half away.
We all move nimbly to the next class at 11:30. Everyone settles in. A small school makes for quick, painless transitions. Some lolligagging is expected; and of course, a few students need another cup of tea or coffee, or try to snatch a piece of bread. One of our students is the child of bakers. The bread is daily, fantastic. Facaccia, sourdoughs, french loaves, big hatchmarked rounds. The teenage metabolism is such a force that it makes everyone hungry. By twelve fifteen, each teacher surges over an undertow of appetite. The pots are boiling- perhaps a lentil soup, dark and rich, or a sweet and peppery tomato. Some times curry. Sometime roast fish. A couple of students are pitching in, earning academic credit as kitchen assistant. In Buddhism the kitchen master, is a deeply respected figure. Dogen, the counter-intellectual monk of the 13th century instructs:
"When you prepare food, do not see with ordinary eyes and do not think with ordinary mind..." (Instructions for the Tenzo, ed. Tanahashi, chap 3)
In the kitchen they are making a meal of two to five separate dishes, and a salad, ready for all. Finally, class is over. We all gather in the dining room for a few announcements and a moment of silence. A teacher might say: Let's have our moment of silence."
A student will pipe up a minute or two later: "Thank you".
And we eat.
When the period ends, the students quietly move into the short wide hallway that opens the large dharma room to the rest of the building. Most eventually find their way into our small kitchen. Watch them: pouring coffee, making tea, toast, a plate of eggs or a bowl of oatmeal, talking about work, or home, or the previous evening. This is their kitchen. They chat with teachers, who start to move them toward nine-thirty five, when first classes begin.
There is a ten minute break at 10:25. More eating, usually. The sleepy bellies have woken, they must be fed. Some realize they are much more tired than they thought. One girl walks quickly to the bathroom. A few other students have gathered in the office, laughing with a teacher. In the foyer, several kids rifle through their cubbies, a few slump on the couches, a somnolent greeting to any who might come through our front doors.
Second period. Louder. Most everyone is awake. In the largest classroom, right next to the kitchen, the students are gathered around a large, oval table. This is also our dining room. But at this moment, eight students are in the Renaissance, enjoying the exuberant Borgias, or the witty Aquinas. Perhaps it is a geometry class, which some find a welcome relief from algebra, which others meet somewhat obtusely, and perhaps a few recognize that the whole thing is connected somehow.
But about half through the period, the scent of roasting and toasting, of herbs and peppers, of frying onions and garlic, come drifting in, and soon, like a gentle "ahem" throughout the building, we all realize that lunch is a mere hour and a half away.
We all move nimbly to the next class at 11:30. Everyone settles in. A small school makes for quick, painless transitions. Some lolligagging is expected; and of course, a few students need another cup of tea or coffee, or try to snatch a piece of bread. One of our students is the child of bakers. The bread is daily, fantastic. Facaccia, sourdoughs, french loaves, big hatchmarked rounds. The teenage metabolism is such a force that it makes everyone hungry. By twelve fifteen, each teacher surges over an undertow of appetite. The pots are boiling- perhaps a lentil soup, dark and rich, or a sweet and peppery tomato. Some times curry. Sometime roast fish. A couple of students are pitching in, earning academic credit as kitchen assistant. In Buddhism the kitchen master, is a deeply respected figure. Dogen, the counter-intellectual monk of the 13th century instructs:
"When you prepare food, do not see with ordinary eyes and do not think with ordinary mind..." (Instructions for the Tenzo, ed. Tanahashi, chap 3)
In the kitchen they are making a meal of two to five separate dishes, and a salad, ready for all. Finally, class is over. We all gather in the dining room for a few announcements and a moment of silence. A teacher might say: Let's have our moment of silence."
A student will pipe up a minute or two later: "Thank you".
And we eat.
Some Suggestions
Posting student art, photos of the school, student poetry, and more about the relationship to food at TAS.
The Role of Poetry
Poetry has a profound role in Zen study. Much of the emphasis is on haiku and enlightenment poems- short, sharp apprehensions of moment. This tradition had a vast influence on American poetry in the early part of the 20th century.
Ernest Fenollossa laid the fuse and Ezra Pound, compounding EF's mistakes, lit it. The book Pound read was called "The Chinese Written Character as a Medium for Poetry" (interesting essay here) and it set off the explosion called Imagism, which arguably swept away the poetry of the Victorian age. At least among "interesting" poets.
Hard, precise images. Suspended in space, and somewhat, in time. Moments. An American haiku. I find it intriguing that so many of the poets who worked this vein can be claimed, in part, by Philadelphia. Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams, and today's poet...Marianne Moore. Much as the Philly connection has been under-scrutinized, so has Moore's entire body of work. I think she will be radically reconsidered someday. The poem that follows has exactly the type of perception I would love to cultivate in our students.
The Fish
wade
through black jade.
Of the crow-blue mussel-shells, one keeps
adjusting the ash heaps;
opening and shutting itself like
an
injured fan.
The barnacles, which encrust the side
of the wave cannot hide
there, for the submerged hafts of the
sun,
split like spun
glass, move themselves with spotlight swiftness
into the crevices-
in and out, illuminating
the
turquoise sea
of bodies....
see the whole poem here
If you are interested in a wonderful little museum, filled with art and old books (as well as Marianne Moore's reconstructed office) go to the Rosenbach Museum in Philly. It is one of my favorites. (edit: garbled diction!)
Ernest Fenollossa laid the fuse and Ezra Pound, compounding EF's mistakes, lit it. The book Pound read was called "The Chinese Written Character as a Medium for Poetry" (interesting essay here) and it set off the explosion called Imagism, which arguably swept away the poetry of the Victorian age. At least among "interesting" poets.
Hard, precise images. Suspended in space, and somewhat, in time. Moments. An American haiku. I find it intriguing that so many of the poets who worked this vein can be claimed, in part, by Philadelphia. Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams, and today's poet...Marianne Moore. Much as the Philly connection has been under-scrutinized, so has Moore's entire body of work. I think she will be radically reconsidered someday. The poem that follows has exactly the type of perception I would love to cultivate in our students.
The Fish
wade
through black jade.
Of the crow-blue mussel-shells, one keeps
adjusting the ash heaps;
opening and shutting itself like
an
injured fan.
The barnacles, which encrust the side
of the wave cannot hide
there, for the submerged hafts of the
sun,
split like spun
glass, move themselves with spotlight swiftness
into the crevices-
in and out, illuminating
the
turquoise sea
of bodies....
see the whole poem here
If you are interested in a wonderful little museum, filled with art and old books (as well as Marianne Moore's reconstructed office) go to the Rosenbach Museum in Philly. It is one of my favorites. (edit: garbled diction!)
Poor Winter!
It is seven. I am sitting in my dark study. We have a two hour delay, and so, with the family sleeping in I have more time to sit quietly and now, more time to write and think. I seem out of practice.
It is not cold. It is dark. Some of the back roads are icy, hence the delay. But winter, I am sad to report, seems to have fled our valley. Last year's winter was held in a similar pattern: cold air sweeps in, producing momentary ice and snow, warm air sweeps in soon after, melting it away.
A few years ago when my boys were little boys we had the last big winter. Good packing snow and a lasting cold. We build a sizable snow fort and set a candle in it. All night it glowed warmly, in the back of our little artic back yard. I look now at the mud brown and patch white and slip into brief, indulgent mourning...I miss winter.
I also know that the world is always changing. It saddens me that January seems like late-March. But I am also fortunate enough to live in the most lovely place I've ever lived, so I have changed too, and every where and in every time there are moments I long to grasp and long to let go of. That is how we are.
A cold, black creek carving through hard, white snow. That is where winter is for me.
It is not cold. It is dark. Some of the back roads are icy, hence the delay. But winter, I am sad to report, seems to have fled our valley. Last year's winter was held in a similar pattern: cold air sweeps in, producing momentary ice and snow, warm air sweeps in soon after, melting it away.
A few years ago when my boys were little boys we had the last big winter. Good packing snow and a lasting cold. We build a sizable snow fort and set a candle in it. All night it glowed warmly, in the back of our little artic back yard. I look now at the mud brown and patch white and slip into brief, indulgent mourning...I miss winter.
I also know that the world is always changing. It saddens me that January seems like late-March. But I am also fortunate enough to live in the most lovely place I've ever lived, so I have changed too, and every where and in every time there are moments I long to grasp and long to let go of. That is how we are.
A cold, black creek carving through hard, white snow. That is where winter is for me.
The School Day: part one
Some readers are wondering, surely, what our school day is like. When we started the school ten years ago we took for granted several things: that teenagers don't eat well, they don't spend enough meaningful time with adults, and they don't sleep enough.
We committed ourselves to an expensive, but thorough approach to food. The kids would be offered a variety of quality, vegetarian food and would help with the cooking and the cleaning. They would be given some sort of breakfast and allowed to snack at will. We would try to shape their eating habits by exposure and example, and try to encourage self-awareness. We would not get into conflicts about food.
For the most part it works. Most of our graduates develop good eating habits and have a creative, enjoyable relationship to food. Sometimes I think this is the most important contribution we make.
We have between 25 and 30 full and part time students. At any given time, we have 5-7 adults on board. Classes range between individual instruction (in music, living skills, reading, math) and our largest classes of 10 to 12 students. We have one staff person who provides all-around support to the teachers, and a three day a week therapist. Lunches, free periods, and class time all almost always time spent between teachers and students. In addition, several students require quite a bit of support outside of school and throughout the summer.
Sleep. We start at 9:00. This extra hour or two of sleep is crucial. Many of our students don't get up until 7:30 or 8:00. Most seem to go to bed around 11 or 12. The emotional and intellectual tasks of high school are simply out of reach of many students if they are only getting 5 or 6 hours of sleep a night.
We begin each day with a meditation. Some students choose zazen, some a walking meditation. This period lasts about 20 minutes. Generally, we discourage the younger students from doing zazen. We have six acres of grounds, and a little movement in the fresh air does them well.
This is an area to discuss more: what benefits, if any, do the students believe they derive from meditation? We should explore this. We offer some simple instruction, and offer classes in it most of the year.
Lunch is at 12:30. It last an hour. It begins with a moment of silence.
The day ends at 4:00. It ends with a brief period of meditation.
We committed ourselves to an expensive, but thorough approach to food. The kids would be offered a variety of quality, vegetarian food and would help with the cooking and the cleaning. They would be given some sort of breakfast and allowed to snack at will. We would try to shape their eating habits by exposure and example, and try to encourage self-awareness. We would not get into conflicts about food.
For the most part it works. Most of our graduates develop good eating habits and have a creative, enjoyable relationship to food. Sometimes I think this is the most important contribution we make.
We have between 25 and 30 full and part time students. At any given time, we have 5-7 adults on board. Classes range between individual instruction (in music, living skills, reading, math) and our largest classes of 10 to 12 students. We have one staff person who provides all-around support to the teachers, and a three day a week therapist. Lunches, free periods, and class time all almost always time spent between teachers and students. In addition, several students require quite a bit of support outside of school and throughout the summer.
Sleep. We start at 9:00. This extra hour or two of sleep is crucial. Many of our students don't get up until 7:30 or 8:00. Most seem to go to bed around 11 or 12. The emotional and intellectual tasks of high school are simply out of reach of many students if they are only getting 5 or 6 hours of sleep a night.
We begin each day with a meditation. Some students choose zazen, some a walking meditation. This period lasts about 20 minutes. Generally, we discourage the younger students from doing zazen. We have six acres of grounds, and a little movement in the fresh air does them well.
This is an area to discuss more: what benefits, if any, do the students believe they derive from meditation? We should explore this. We offer some simple instruction, and offer classes in it most of the year.
Lunch is at 12:30. It last an hour. It begins with a moment of silence.
The day ends at 4:00. It ends with a brief period of meditation.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Things that set us apart...
What are some of the things that people comment on when they visit us?
It is calm.
The food is excellent. Mostly vegetarian, very varied. Our students learn to eat and to cook well.
The goofing around is good natured and silly. Sexualized and aggressive behavior is highly unusual.
Our students are very diverse: many have special needs, some are extra-bright, some jumpy, sad, or full of vinegar. Some are a little lost. Quite a few have had really tough lives. We have a wide range of abilities and concerns in a very small group.
There are very few rules.
We have no "consequences", outside of extra supervision or being sent home for the day, both of which are quite rare.
Each student is supported by an advocate and a counselor.
Most importantly, adults set the tone. In a big school, there is a kid culture entirely independent and unaffected by the teachers. Here, all aspects of school life are very responsive to changes, whether from the teachers or the students.
There is more, of course. That will come later.
It is calm.
The food is excellent. Mostly vegetarian, very varied. Our students learn to eat and to cook well.
The goofing around is good natured and silly. Sexualized and aggressive behavior is highly unusual.
Our students are very diverse: many have special needs, some are extra-bright, some jumpy, sad, or full of vinegar. Some are a little lost. Quite a few have had really tough lives. We have a wide range of abilities and concerns in a very small group.
There are very few rules.
We have no "consequences", outside of extra supervision or being sent home for the day, both of which are quite rare.
Each student is supported by an advocate and a counselor.
Most importantly, adults set the tone. In a big school, there is a kid culture entirely independent and unaffected by the teachers. Here, all aspects of school life are very responsive to changes, whether from the teachers or the students.
There is more, of course. That will come later.
A Call For Some Input...
We are a very small school that deliberately keeps a low profile. All of our students hear of us by word of mouth. We don't advertise, we don't actively look for students. Our purpose is to serve our corner of the world, and to be flexible and astute enough to meet the changes in our community.
But we are beginning to reach out to other communities: the academic world, the Buddhist world, the many mindfulness practitioners, and so on. It is a cliche, but we do change lives. Many of our students come to us in a state of emotional and intellectual chaos. They graduate ready, more or less, for the many challenges of adult life. Most go to college. Almost all of them stay in touch with us, many continue to visit, seeking support and advice.
But we evolve rapidly, meeting the current needs of our students. I think that what we do would be of great interest to many in the psychology and education fields, but a small school requires a special degree of confidentiality. What, then, is of interest to the handful of people who check into this blog?
Please email us at pete@tinicumartandscience.org or comment here. I probably sent out notice to the listservs and my email list prematurely; after all, it would be great to have a snappin' robust blog happenin' here for all to visit. But at the moment this is a one writer affair, with a smattering readership. I need input!
Mindfulness is already becoming a shapeless, overused term. And it is only now entering the vast, burbling public consciousness. With TAS, we have a school based on the principles of self-awareness, exposure to the arts and sciences, and community coherence, all of which are reinforced by mindfulness and meditation. Good things are happening here, simple things that need to be articulated and passed along. Schools can work. They are natural social workshops for young people.
It is entirely possible that all the good results we get are the results of the quality of the relationships between teachers and students, and between the students themselves. Perhaps if we cut out the meditations and the mindfulness based counseling there would be no difference at all. What do you think? How can we investigate this question?
There is no question in my mind that the students have, over the years, contributed as much to the development of this school as anyone else. Perhaps it is time to put together a little history of the school. Should we post some history?
How does our teaching differ from other schools, if at all? What do our students say? Would you like to know?
Help me stretch out this blog by commenting and offering posts. And please, keep visiting. It is time for us to move out into the larger community.
Comments are now open to all
Comments on this blog are now open to non-registered users. I just realized how to do this. Sorry. Not that is matters that much.
What You Do...
There are some interesting groupings in the post below. Note that all the top jobs- the safest, most congenial, best compensated, most available- are mathematics oriented. What gives them a run, and comes up a bit short (though I do not know what quantitative differences their are between the individual slots) are (drum roll, please):
Historian, Sociologist, and Philosopher
Fantastic. One science gig- biology, at number four. I think this gives a strong boost to the argument that a liberal arts education is worth pursuing. On a related note only a single people oriented job makes the cut. Not a teacher, not a therapist, but a parole officer. This profession is considered Safer, Healthier, and Better Compensated than teaching. Very interesting.
Historian, Sociologist, and Philosopher
Fantastic. One science gig- biology, at number four. I think this gives a strong boost to the argument that a liberal arts education is worth pursuing. On a related note only a single people oriented job makes the cut. Not a teacher, not a therapist, but a parole officer. This profession is considered Safer, Healthier, and Better Compensated than teaching. Very interesting.
Best and Worst Jobs
from a study done on pay and work conditions:
| The Best | The Worst |
| 1. Mathematician | 200. Lumberjack |
| 2. Actuary | 199. Dairy Farmer |
| 3. Statistician | 198. Taxi Driver |
| 4. Biologist | 197. Seaman |
| 5. Software Engineer | 196. EMT |
| 6. Computer Systems Analyst | 195. Garbage Collector |
| 7. Historian | 194. Welder |
| 8. Sociologist | 193. Roustabout |
| 9. Industrial Designer | 192. Ironworker |
| 10. Accountant | 191. Construction Worker |
| 11. Economist | 190. Mail Carrier |
| 12. Philosopher | 189. Sheet Metal Worker |
| 13. Physicist | 188. Auto Mechanic |
| 14. Parole Officer | 187. Butcher |
| 15. Meteorologist | 186. Nuclear Decontamination Tech |
| 16. Medical Laboratory Technician | 185. Nurse (LN) |
| 17. Paralegal Assistant | 184.Painter |
| 18. Computer Programmer | 183. Child Care Worker |
| 19. Motion Picture Editor | 182. Firefighter |
| 20. Astronomer | 181. Brick Layer |
Monday, January 5, 2009
A Million, continued...
Linguistics is not a field I keep up on regularly, but the preceding item raises some interesting questions. For instance, what language has the second largest vocabulary? What language, historically speaking, had the greatest number of linguistic influences?
If you read the whole Economist article you might have noted that this isn't a precise count, and that the inability to perform a precise count underscores the fluidity of human language. Odds are, however that in the months up to and just after April of this year the Hindi, Mandarin, and Spanish tributaries (as well as a host of others) will have engorged the English language past the arbitrary point we call One Million Words.
If I remember correctly, the average speaker of English uses a cluster of about 10,000 different words, mostly Anglo-Saxon in origin, in about 90 percent of his or her communication. Total vocabulary: 40,000 words. College education, with a specialty area? 100,000.
It seems to me that English will not only fragment into only partial intelligible dialects, but that these dialects will reflect more than geography. They will, eventually, reflect "communities of choice". A new category is being born.
Will the old progression of dialect to creole to separate language altogether fall to the wayside?
If you read the whole Economist article you might have noted that this isn't a precise count, and that the inability to perform a precise count underscores the fluidity of human language. Odds are, however that in the months up to and just after April of this year the Hindi, Mandarin, and Spanish tributaries (as well as a host of others) will have engorged the English language past the arbitrary point we call One Million Words.
If I remember correctly, the average speaker of English uses a cluster of about 10,000 different words, mostly Anglo-Saxon in origin, in about 90 percent of his or her communication. Total vocabulary: 40,000 words. College education, with a specialty area? 100,000.
It seems to me that English will not only fragment into only partial intelligible dialects, but that these dialects will reflect more than geography. They will, eventually, reflect "communities of choice". A new category is being born.
Will the old progression of dialect to creole to separate language altogether fall to the wayside?
A Million.
Some events in 2009 may be more momentous, but surely not many: on April 29th the number of words in the English language will pass 1m. This astonishing fact prompts a host of frequently asked questions or, as wordsmiths call them, FAQs.
First, who says—or, in tabloid (this meaning coined in 1902) journalese (1882), who sez? The answer is the Global Language Monitor, a company based in Austin, Texas. It keeps an eye on the use of language, especially English, and tracks changes.
And by what authority does the Global Language Monitor say a new coinage is a genuine new word? None. Some countries, such as France and Spain, have academies that claim the right to regulate their national languages, and to repel invasive terms, usually from English. Neither England nor the United States attempts such an exercise in futility. English is a mongrel language that keeps its vitality by absorbing new words, uses and expressions. It promiscuously plunders other languages and delights in neologisms. It is the language of free traders and inventive entrepreneurs such as the staff of the Global Language Monitor.
go to the articleWhat I love about this is that NO language has ever had this many words. There was no infrastructure until recently to support so many. Even knowing that the language has grown so enormous is absolutely a function of the modern age of communication. More on this later.
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