Friday, September 21, 2012

Multicultural Lens



Frank McStay (Austin College Class of '11, B.A. in International Relations with minors in German and Leadership Studies) Frank also worked for Austin College and is now a graduate student in Public Affairs in New York:
"Few students would argue that language is the only element in a foreign language program at a college. At Austin College, my experience in the German program was part language, part cultural values, part political, part history, and part economics, among many other parts. It is the diversity of all these parts, rather than the whole, that influenced me the most throughout my German minor at Austin College. Being challenged by a program that incorporated works of Nietzsche, that examined the socio-economic conditions surrounding the Wall of Berlin, and that discussed the theoretical attributes of individual identity, is what I enjoyed the most about learning German at Austin College. The liberal arts, within the German program, experience was engaging, peaking my interest and thinking. The differences between course material and figuring out how they all fit together is what drove my language development, love for German, and multicultural perspective.
Students of German at Austin College learn much more than just a language. Rather, they develop a multicultural lens. It is this lens or perspective that I have been able to carry forward with me and use to analyze a variety of situations. Moreover, it is a critical part of my identity today."

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