One of the things I have to say I did not expect from my college experience was taking a class all by myself. But in my third year here at Tufts I have finally succeeded in finding something that no one else in the school is as interested in as I am. What could it possibly be? Why Elementary Sanskrit, of course. I can’t imagine why I’m the only one.
The class is taught by Professor Mahoney, the Classics/Linguistics guru who loves her cats almost as much as her Proto-Indo-European (PIE for short, best acronym ever) sound shifts. She’s tough, but fair, and her high expectations mean you learn things pretty quickly. But being in a room alone with her and Sanskrit three times a week has some pros and cons.
CONS
- I can NEVER EVER skip class. If I’m not going to be there, I had better e-mail beforehand and give the professor a heads up. If not, let the awkwardness ensue…
- For lack of a better term, you gotta know your sh-, uh, stuff. If I’m not up on my vocab, my grammar and my sandhi (the ways words change when they’re next to each other, it’s hopelessly complicated and the hardest part about Sanskrit), my professor will know.
- The room feels kind of empty with all those empty rows behind me…
PROS
- I get individual instruction. This means the class moves at my pace, and while my professor has high standards, if I’m struggling with something, she adjusts. All of my questions are answered, and we can spend as much time as we want on any obscure topic that’s giving me trouble. She also adapts to my style of learning - we quickly realized that giving me the linguistic concepts behind grammar helps me learn faster, so she spends plenty of time explaining how the language developed from Proto Indo-European, the mother language of Sanskrit, Greek and Latin (and you could say the great-great-grandmother language of English).
- Grades aren’t really that much of an issue. I’ve already failed a few quizzes (you try reading in Sanskrit after only a week and a half of class), but my professor told me that as long as she thinks I’m working hard and I stay in the class, I don’t really need to worry about it. It’s such a freeing experience to focus on learning something not because I want to get an A, but only because I have a genuine interest in the material.
- I know my professor is just as committed as I am. She wouldn’t waste her time teaching just one student unless she really cared. She absolutely loves teaching Sanskrit, and wants students to have the opportunity to learn it at Tufts. Having a professor who is guaranteed to care is always a plus.
While taking classes by myself certainly hasn’t been typical, I really do think it has added to my learning experience. Who knows, this time next year I might be trying my hand at the Bhagavad Gita!