The No Shows were J Lubchenko and S Solomon. The honorandae who attended were H R Clinton, L Colley, S Davies, A Deavere Smith, Baroness Lister, J Winterson. Given the change of date and the Pestilence, these distinguished ladies are much to be commended for coming to be with us.
A 'modernisation' which I resent is that the Student Prizewinners no longer read out potions of their compositions. They just stand there to be clapped ... how condescending ....
According to Mr Orator, all over this country the teaching of languages is plummetting ... German being particularly hard hit. There's Global Britain for you ...
As a recently retired university professor, I can attest that the same phenomenon is taking place in the USA. Many foreign language programs (even whole departments) are being reduced to minimal instruction---typically a few introductory courses---or completely abolished. Ironic, isn't it, that after all the prattle about "globalization" (which would normally include an expectation of greater foreign language acquisition, logically, to facilitate communication, commerce, cultural exchanges among various peoples) we are witnessing a decline in the value placed on the learning of foreign languages. To insert a perhaps unwelcome conjectural comment, I would wager that great globalists Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden cannot utter a simple salutation in a language other than English---I could be wrong, of course, and perhaps these two creatures can write epic verse in Old Norse, but somehow I doubt it. Call me a cynic.
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