31, no. 3 (Spring 2000): 27-29
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The Model Teacher-Scholar
RENEE WALDINGER
IT GIVES me great pleasure to have this opportunity to talk about my fellow eighteenth-century specialist and friend Jean Perkins, in whose honor this session has been arranged by the Association of Departments of Foreign Languages and who is to receive the ADFL Award for Distinguished Service in the Profession. Jean's contribution to teaching and scholarship in foreign languages and literature has been unparalleled. Throughout her long career she has played a major role in every area of postsecondary education and her leadership qualities have been recognized by her colleagues, who have elected her to every top position available to the scholar-teacher.
Indeed the title for this session, "Cultivating the French Garden," is a perfect choice, for it can refer literally to an article by Jean in the 1978 Diderot Studies volume 19, entitled "Gardening in the Encyclopédie." But in a wider context, it is a very apt allusion to the creative and nurturing attention Jean has always given to all her tasks. She has sown many seeds in the French garden and has cultivated numerous varieties, always attaining the same spectacular results. What is so remarkable about Jean's contribution to French studies is the comprehensive quality of her achievements. She has played an active role in every facet of her professional life. After receiving a PhD in French literature from Columbia University, she joined the faculty at Swarthmore College, where she rose in rank steadily, became chair of her department, and was awarded the title of Susan W. Lippincott Professor of French, a title to which emerita has been added.
Jean Perkins is a distinguished American eighteenth-century specialist with a long list of major publications. Although she published regularly throughout her career, always in the most distinguished scholarly journals, and has been a much admired speaker at countless national and international conferences, to be an eighteenth-century specialist, as far as Jean was concerned, has always entailed much more than writing books and articles; it meant devoting oneself to making that discipline flourish. In her own classes, it meant always exploring new techniques to guide her students to see the connection and relevance to their own lives in the works they were reading. I remember her telling me ten years ago how pleased she was to see the interest aroused in her students, thanks to her new way of presenting the eighteenth century by adding historical texts and current sociological interpretations to the required literary readings. She was clearly at the forefront of a teaching technique that has become commonplace. Making her discipline flourish extended way beyond her classes. It meant giving support to colleagues by being active in the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies and organizing opportunities for scholars to meet and discuss their research. She participated fully in the society's meetings, giving papers and organizing sessions on a great variety of topics. Soon recognized as a leader, she quickly became an officer of that society, elected first as its treasurer and then as its president. She has been equally active in the International Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, soon becoming a highly respected member of its executive board and then its treasurer. Let me just give you one illustration of the kind of long-range impact she has had on the policies of the International Society: at the 1975 International Congress on the Enlightenment held at Yale University, the executive board had endorsed a long list of candidates for office, which did not include any women. At the business meeting where this list was presented for the approval of the membership, Jean did not hesitate to voice her dismay that not a single female scholar was on that list. When the presenter, taken aback, answered weakly that the committee could not think of one, pandemonium ensued. Jean pressed her point and it led to a revolution that was contained only when suitable women scholars were added to the list. The situation has never recurred.
Jean's intelligence, thoughtfulness, and openness to individuals and ideas, coupled with a strong sense of fairness and common sense, have been much appreciated by the MLA, where her ascent to the presidency was very rapid. Let us not forget that after cochairing the MLA Commission on the Status of Women and chairing the Division on French Literature, she was nominated by petition and then elected second vice president in 1977. She became president in 1979.
Numerous other learned societies have benefited from Jean's generous willingness to serve the profession. She has been a member of the executive committee of ADFL and a keynote and plenary speaker at its summer seminars. She has served on a variety of review panels for the National Endowment for the Humanities, for fellowships for college teachers, for research tools, for summer stipends, and for independent fellowships. She has been a member of screening committees, selection committees, and advisory committees for the National Humanities Center at the Research Triangle Park in North Carolina; of the Council for International Exchange of Scholars; of the American Council of Learned Societies; and of the National Research Council.
All these distinguished scholarly institutions called on Jean because they realize that in her the highest scholarly standards are combined with sympathetic regard for individual aspirations. She will strive to do everything she can do to smooth the path of those who want to move forward. This explains her ever-enduring interest in fostering good teaching, She became a member of the AATF while studying for the PhD and also became active in the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, where she was elected treasurer in 1962 and chair of the conference in 1965-66 and was invited to attend the annual meeting as honored guest in 1981. Her expertise in matters pertaining to teaching and academic administration has made her a resource person for innumerable professional activities, a much sought consultant on a host of academic problems, and an ideal candidate for panels entrusted with departmental evaluations. She is a remarkable representative of our profession and, above all, she is a decent, high-minded, and fair person. She truly deserves the ADFL Award for Distinguished Service in the Profession.
As I was reflecting on what I would say about Jean, I kept wondering whether a career such as hers was still possible today for someone teaching French. Obviously, such outstanding success can be obtained by very few people, even under the best circumstances; but I have concluded that it is simply no longer attainable for anyone in the field of French, even if that individual possesses the intellectual and personal qualities that distinguish Jean. Of all the foreign languages in the American curriculum, the decline of French has been the most dramatic. Thirty years ago, it was the premier foreign language studied in American schools. Today its enrollments have decreased on every level of instruction all over the country. In many urban centers, French is no longer offered in middle schools, which practically guarantees a further decline at the next step, high schools, and beyond. French does not benefit from expanded development of foreign languages in elementary school (FLES); most schools can only afford to offer one language and Spanish is the choice of both parents and administrators. Political, economic, and social trends play a crucial role in these changes and there is very little the profession can do to limit their effect. But in addition French literature has lost the luster it had when Jean started her career. The post-World War II generation of French writers generated much excitement in the United States. André Malraux, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Albert Camus, as well as many others, were familiar names to a wide public. Their works were translated and much discussed. The reality is that French thinkers and writers have not lost their influence in the intervening years; on the contrary, their views have had an enormous impact on criticism and philosophy, but they reach a greatly limited audience. There is also no doubt that the revelations about France's conduct during World War II have played a part in turning parents, and our prospective students, away from the study of French.
Yet it is not only causes beyond our control that would preclude the possibility for duplicating Jean's success. The position of foreign languages in the postsecondary academic establishment has become so limited that it is bound to frustrate the most promising and enthusiastic young assistant professor. Departments have shrunk to such an extent that the young teacher is forced to assume responsibilities that used to be shared by a group of colleagues. The new member is assigned to countless college committees, is asked to teach courses in different areas every semester, which requires extensive preparation, and is expected to publish important writings that attract the attention of the scholarly community. This situation places unreasonable demands on the budding scholar and its nefarious effects are already visible in the decrease of articles submitted to learned journals and papers given at conferences by French scholars. A striking illustration of this dangerous trend is the decline in the number of meetings devoted to French literature at the Seminar on Eighteenth-Century Culture at Columbia University, where for years French has been a major component and where last year only one meeting was devoted to a French topic.
The MLA could be very helpful in publicizing the negative long-term consequences of the situation just described, which in reality affects all the foreign languages with the exception of Spanish. And the foreign language faculty must face the fact that a college department can no longer afford to offer a wide variety of courses and must agree on a core that will motivate students to continue the study of the foreign language beyond the intermediate level, convincing some of them to go on to graduate school and become the college teachers of the future. I think that you will agree with me that sustained study of foreign language and literature can only be achieved if we find fresh and imaginative ways to connect language work to the intellectual life of the people whose language is studied. I am convinced that all the students who do advanced work with us have discovered in the study of their foreign language a special connection that is meaningful to them and that holds their attention. That extra something differs from person to person, but it has hooked them to the discipline. Surely they enjoyed being able to speak the language and communicate in another tongue, but what kept them interested was this personal and very positive response to a dimension characteristic of the ethos, outlook, attitude to the world, in short the core of the specific foreign language studied. I feel that this special dimension, which links the individual to the foreign culture, can best be discovered in literature. It has been said that art is the window to the soul. Then literature is surely, as it has been throughout the ages, the journal of a people's reality and yearnings. It holds the secrets of thousands of voices, speaking for countless more, and it offers the reader a privileged entry into the consciousness of the other. It can be the most powerful instrument for arousing the intellectual curiosity of our students, right from the beginning of their language study.
Yet if we want our students to appreciate the literary works in our curriculum, we must change the way we teach them. We have to admit that we are fooling ourselves if we believe that after three or four years of foreign language instruction, our students possess the language skills needed to discuss literary texts on a sophisticated level. In each class one or two students may be able to do it successfully, but in all probability they have lived or traveled abroad. Most cannot manage it, and they become frustrated and discouraged. So they give up. If we want to keep these students, we have to change the expectations we have for them. We have to help them develop their linguistic ability in concert with their understanding and appreciation of the texts they study. If we manage to do that, there is a good chance that another French student will follow in the steps of Jean Perkins.
The author is Professor Emerita of French at the City University of New York Graduate Center. This article is based on her presentation at a session honoring Jean Perkins at the 1998 MLA Convention in San Francisco, CA.
© 2000 by the Association of Departments of Foreign Languages. All Rights Reserved.
ADFL Bulletin 31, no. 3 (Spring 2000): 27-29 |
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