Why Do We Study English?

“The development of language is part of the development of the personality, for words are the natural means of expressing thoughts and establishing understanding between people.” – Maria Montessori

English class, L.A, or whatever you want to call it; we as a people have been studying language since day one. In fact, language is the first thing we’re ever taught; well besides walking. Language is so ingrained into our being, we don’t really question it. Well, unless you’re bored out of your mind in L.A and you just keep asking yourself “Why in the world do I need to know sentence structure?”. That’s a good question. Why do we study language? To answer this, we are going to look at a couple different perspectives; a student’s, and the schools.

I believe we need to study language because it’s the most important part of us as a species. It’s also super cool. I mean think about it, language is completely made up. It’s not real. Someone way back when got sick of grunting and gesturing and came up with words. They gave things names at random. Unless someone created it, there was no rhyme or reason on what to call things. And when these “namers” shared their ideas and said ” We call these things this, and you should too. Y’know, ’cause it’ll make life easier”, some groups said “No, I don’t think we will”, and then they went to war for like 800 years, but more importantly they created languages! I mean that’s just so fascinating to me and I would love to learn more.

Okay, perspective number two, the schools. I think its pretty simple to figure out why schools teach L.A. I’m going to make a generalization and say that pretty much everyone goes to school these days. At least over here in the U.S of A, schooling is a requirement, and when it comes to academics, the school is the main source of information, excluding the internet. Because there are so many schools, things get competitive. Every school, public or private, wants to be the best. If a school decided to cut the L.A program, not only would their students suffer, but so would the school. If the students aren’t taught how to read, write, or how to speak articulately, they won’t stand a chance in adult life. For instance, a good essay can land you in a great place; with a great email, you can save your job. And if the school is churning out illiterate kids, no one is gonna want to send their kids to that school, causing the school to lose funding and eventually close.

Language can unite or divide. It can start and stop wars. It can be the difference in how much you pay for your dinner, or in whether or not you tick off the wrong guy. Language is a cursed blessing, waiting to be used. Language is what makes us unique and the same. Language isn’t even as old as the human race. We are the only ones who use it so let’s use it for good. We are language.