The Good Students

I publish so many stories about the weird things students say and write because I want to entertain my readers. This, however, might create an impression that all of our students suck. That is, of course, not the case. The egregious cases happen but they are not the majority. This is why I want to publish a post about the great students we have.

Today, I attended the presentations by our graduating students. I am exhausted and can hardly move I’m so tired. But listening to those presentations was profoundly inspiring. A student who barely spoke Spanish at all when he came to our department delivered a brilliant analysis of the philosophy of Miguel de Unamuno, Nietzsche, and Kierkegaard in fluent Spanish. I still remember him struggling with the present tense conjugations and now he can read, analyze and explain such complex texts. And you know who got him interested in Spanish philosophy? Khm, khm.

Another student did really stunning research on the drug wars in Mexico. He rattled out the presentation at a break-neck speed because there was so much fascinating material he had to deliver.

We also heard very insightful analysis of Spanish movies that try to recover the historic memory of the Spanish Civil war.

These students come to us mostly unaware that other cultures exist. They speak no foreign languages and their vision of the world is extremely limited. We teach them to speak languages, get them to travel, and introduce them to the artistic production of other countries. And it’s so beautiful to see how country bumpkins who are not sure if femicide is good or bad and think that Argentina is a province of Spain are transformed into citizens of the world.