BRISTOL, Tenn. – King College students were urged Monday to treasure and protect the English language, during an opening convocation lecture by a California-based professor and writer.
Marilyn Chandler McEntyre, a poet, author and English professor at Westmont College in Montecito, Calif., said the beauty and value of English has become lost in current American culture, which, she said, increasingly rewards people, groups and others who cheapen the meaning of words and skillfully twist them for their purposes.
“We’ve come to tolerate the dumbing down of our public discourse with little complaint,” McEntyre told some 200 King students, administrators and faculty members during her campus appearance, which marked the start of the college’s 2010-11 school term.
“English is one of the richest languages in the world,” McEntyre said. “We have to count on each other to keep our language alive and vibrant. We need to make sure our words continue to serve beauty as agents of truth, agents of grace.”
The professor said a couple reasons for the creeping decline of English are an American society where most children entering kindergarten “have seen 5,000 hours of TV, or the same amount of time it takes to earn a bachelor’s degree” and a sizeable segment of adults read so little and so poorly that they struggle to understand bus schedules.
Combine that with endless distractions, noise and commercialism that survives through catchy slogans designed to push people to buy things, McEntyre said, and too many Americans lack the necessary skills to expand their English vocabulary, which has caused countless words to become so overused that they’ve totally lost any true meaning.
“Including, regrettably, [the word] ‘awesome,’ ” McEntyre said, drawing laughter from numerous students.
The professor called on King students to take steps to preserve the power of English, including reading poetry, learning to hold real conversations, appreciating the beauty of prayer and pointing out those who use language to deceive.
“We have a responsibility not to allow ourselves to be lied to,” McEntyre said. “When lies are told, they erode the social contract.”
King junior Karen McGee, a nursing student from Castlewood, Va., said she was impressed by the professor’s talk.
“It really hit home with me,” McGee said. “I don’t always use words well and I never think twice about it. But she really pointed out the power in what you say.”
McEntyre was invited to King by the Buechner Institute, which is based on campus and holds an annual lecture series on faith and its role in daily life.
rbrown@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2512
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