A Generation of Silence: Why Armenian Schools Matter

‘Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.’ – Ludwig Wittgenstein

The Armenian Diaspora is slowly raising a generation of silence.

This statement may come as a shock, but it stems from the philosopher and linguist Ludwig Wittgenstein’s treatise on language where he states, “The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.”

'Hayeren khosetsek' ('Speak Armenian') (Photo: Rupen Janbazian)
‘Hayeren khosetsek’ (‘Speak Armenian’) (Photo: Rupen Janbazian)

I remember learning about his theories in graduate school while studying other linguistic theorists like Mikhael Bakhtin, but these words entered the “where are they now” files of my musings and memory until I heard my older daughter correct my younger daughter as she spoke about the importance of being Armenian and her pride in balancing her ability to code switch not only between English and Armenian, but also between Western and Eastern Armenian.

As an AP English Literature and Composition teacher, I focus on language and the ability for my high school students to code switch between different vernaculars and “registers” in English, and every time I teach them, I reflect on my daughters’ ability to the do the same in Armenian. I am proud, I am glad, and I am assured, again and again, that sending them to an Armenian school has not been about the idealistic “maintenance” of an ancient, archaic language, neither has it been about the stubborn attempt to battle the assimilation of a culture—assimilation is an inevitability and, quite frankly, a necessary skill as the global world expands and contracts. The magnitude of the decision to send my daughters to an Armenian school comes, quite simply, through the acceptance of Wittgenstein’s theory that if they do not learn to speak, read, and write Armenian, they will be limited and hampered in the development of knowing themselves and where they fit in this world.

For years I have been questioned by parents, peers, and friends who are overwhelmed with the decision to send their child to Armenian day school. After all, it is a commitment with social, economic, and personal repercussions that are, indeed, long term. Will my child make it? Will my child be successful? Will my child be happy and, will s/he be able to compete with the “super kids” during the current crisis of “super kid syndrome.” I’ve even had discussions with parents who feel that they want their child to be bilingual, but would like them to speak a more “relevant” language. These are all understandable arguments that are logical and most definitely of importance. There are too many answers for so many questions. However, educational theorists know one constant: that children who are immersed in culturally relevant, academically rigorous, socially sensitive, and loving schools do better. Period. The empirical data trumps any trends or hearsay.

However, I’d like to entertain one more idea, and this stems from multiple observations I have made in my immediate community in the Bay Area—observations as simple as noticing that our Armenian church deacons who are under 25 are all graduates of Armenian schools because, quite frankly, it’s not just about being able to read or speak, it’s about immersion.

I must be one of the lucky ones, although I didn’t have the luxury to attend an Armenian school (there was a Saturday school when I grew up). My father always told me that if I don’t speak Armenian, I can’t think in Armenian. Their generation made sure that I had three hours of Armenian school with Armenian teachers in a formal classroom setting while also making sure I performed in many of the cultural programs the school sponsored. Paregentan, Dzenunt, Vartanants, and other holidays were celebrated with educational programs at school. By having a strong sense of our identity, we inevitably had an easier and more secure time interacting with the numerous cultures our diverse city offers. In San Francisco, we didn’t have the ability to be fully immersed in a community like Tehran, Beirut, Aleppo, or even Glendale where we could, miraculously, adapt to an Armenian community, so we were able to be malleable only because we had such a strong sense of our own identity and language.

On a side note, I have never worried that my daughter’s school—KZV Armenian School—is not rigorous enough to compete with any of the best schools in the Bay Area. I am profoundly impressed with the caliber of the instruction in technology, science, mathematics, English, and other content areas. Instruction is scaffolded, is one-on-one, culturally relevant, and integrated through close relationships. The educational “three R’s” are evident and part of the school’s culture and methodology. This article is not about that. However, after having my child’s parent conference with her Armenian language teacher, I came home and remembered Wittgenstein’s theory on language and its profound impact on my children, and its inevitable impact on the future of our diaspora.

I would like to invite parents to begin thinking about the following: If we don’t immerse our children into Armenian communities and also base our children in rigorous instruction of Armenian language, reading, writing, and culture, we will have a generation of Armenians who will, as Wittgenstein stated, be silent. Furthermore, if we don’t make the explicit decision and commitment to maintain our language, we will, indeed, limit a dynamic generation who will be shackled by their limited understanding of themselves. As Wittgenstein stated, “The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.”

Sevana Panosian

Sevana Panosian

Sevana Panosian is a retired award winning AP English Instructor who will now be an instructional coach and middle school instructor at Krouzian Zekarian Vasbouragan Armenian School in San Francisco. Sevana is a native of San Francisco and an active member of the Armenian community.
Sevana Panosian

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24 Comments

  1. What solution does the contributor offer when there is no Armenian school within an hour’s driving time ?

  2. Wow!
    This article ought to be required reading for EVERY Armenian, and not just those in the diaspora, either!
    It really covers everything required fro “hayabahbanoom” and is about language only incidentally!

  3. Big Bravooo, keep writing articles Sevana, I will share this at our Erepouni ARMENIAN School in walnut creek

  4. As a 2nd generation Armenian born in Canada I can relate to the “be silent”. Although my Father was fluent in oral Armenian, he couldn’t read or write it well and had no real interest in learning to do so, as he was more at home in English. My Mother was not Armenian, and although she was willing to learn, there weren’t any classes nearby for adult beginners. She tried sitting in with the kids, but that didn’t really work. So I and my siblings did not grow up speaking Armenian.

    And when I was very young there was no Armenian school within 60miles/110km of where I lived. So I didn’t attend language school for more than 3 months as a child and by then I’d aged out, when finally opened about 15 miles/24km away.

    When I tried to take lessons in University I asked the Der Hayr at the Church if they had adult lessons for beginners. They didn’t, but he’d said he would find some other university students to teach me. Well the two “teachers” were Beirutsis and it turned out they taught me a mix of Armenian and Arabic, because that’s how they talked. When I went home for the Christmas holidays, I tried to surprise my Grandmother with some of what I’d learned. She looked at me in bewilderment and then called someone else in the family over to listen to me. I repeated what I’d said to her, and his response was, “Who from Beirut has been teaching you? Because more than half of what you said was Beirut Arabic.”

    My family are from Agn, Armenia and Alexandria, Egypt. Very few of them speak any Arabic. So back to the drawing board.

    I’m taking lessons now online. I’m still very childlike in my ability to speak, read or write in Armenian (although I learned some Grapar in University while doing research in old Armenian manuscripts) and can’t begin to carry on a conversation in Armenian, nor am I am able to follow a conversation in Armenian (Western or Eastern). But I’m hoping that with time and work I hope to be able to do so.

    My point with this long winded story? I envy the fact that there now are Armenian language day school options for parents to send their children to. That wasn’t the case in Canada even in Toronto or Montreal in the 1960’s when I was in grade school. Granted the closest to me is Toronto, which is still too far to send children from my city daily. But things are changing.

    Studies do show that the earlier that a child learns to speak in a language, the quicker they are to learn to think in that language too. In my case I started learning French at about age 8 in a social setting, and could carry on a basic conversation before I started actual lessons in school in grade 7 (age 12). By the time I’d finished high school, I’d studied more languages, and then went to University in Europe and had the opportunity to practice most of them on a daily basis. I came home almost fluent in 4 more languages….so it wasn’t a case that I couldn’t learn languages, and only wish that my Armenian lessons had worked out better back then.

    I commend the author for sending her children to Armenian day school. Immersion is a great way for children to gain fluency.

  5. it’s very sad that we have to justify scholastically the need for diaspora Armenians to speak and think in Armenian, which is the pillar and the main ingredient to be Armenian…I hope the linguist committee will hurry up and agree on a united pan Armenian language, enough of this eastern/western versions, we are not that many in number to warrant such varieties, enough with the bickering, the time to unite is so overdue, for those who have no access to Armenian schools, the Armenian government should provide comprehensive online learning programs, and all our diaspora teachers should be trained in Armenia, one language, one spelling, for one people, if we are dreaming of a united Armenia, how are we going to achieve this, if we cannot understand each other?

  6. Would love to send my child to Armenian school. Unfortunately, the hours of operation at the school that geographically works for us does not fit the schedule of two very busy parents. A hard close at 5:30pm is impossible for us to deal with, especially with LA traffic. Also, the number of days the school is closed for winter and summer breaks puts a large strain that contributes to the impossible nature. With longer operational times, say until 7pm, and fewer days off, I would be first in line, and I’m sure there are many others like me. Until then, we will continue to do our best to teach at home and via weekend programs.

  7. Great article. The necessity of Armenian Schools cannot be more emphasized. Although I never went to Armenian schools, neither did my children, all efforts were made to keep the language alive even if it meant driving an hour and a half every Friday or Saturday to attend Armenian classes at a distant location. Immersion IS important, but ultimately, the parent IS responsible.

  8. Language is not necessarily the single cutline for identifying with a culture. I grew up third generation around many Armenians going to Sunday school. However, it was not reinforced at home as English was always spoken because a majority of our friends were American from various backgrounds. I have served in the military for 8 years and had to learn Russian as a language out of necessity for my job as it is a common language and Armenian is not. The question should not be that language is important for being Armenian, but more so how do you make Armenian relevant in a multicultural world? With a small population globally, there is an ever increasing demand to speak English because that is how people from Shanghai do business with people from Brussels. The same can be said with Arab-Armenians speaking Arabic and Russian Armenians speaking Russian. When I travelled to Armenia for work, I used Russian, but with a name like Raffi, and explains my background, people accepted me as Armenian. William Soroyan argued that the genocide and the idea that two Armenians meeting anywhere in the world could create another Armenia. I would argue that the collective history of the genocide, the uniqueness of the Armenian church and the language are what make us Armenian. The language is only one lane of an ever expanding highway in our collective conscious of a culture. Language is developed out of necessity, not desire. So again my question I pose, how do you make Armenian relevant globally as that is the direction the world is moving in?

  9. “For years I have been questioned by parents, peers, and friends who are overwhelmed with the decision to send their child to Armenian day school. After all, it is a commitment with social, economic, and personal repercussions that are, indeed, long term. Will my child make it? Will my child be successful?” Thanks you for sharing this article — it’s VERY Timely – specially for my community when almost everyday I am bombarded with so many excuses…to justify not being able to send their children to an Armenian School when it’s available…

  10. First the wider leadership must make an initiative to put Armenian schools on a higher pedestal.
    Second, we should integrate Armenian diaspora schools in our yearly telethons fundraising.
    Third, develop mentoring programs that will make all generations part of the inclusiveness and unity that we must have to succeed now and in the future.

  11. Dear Sevana, first of all congratulations on the very comprehensive and eloquent article on preservation, enhancement of Armenian language and, thus, Armenian identity in the diaspora. I live in Australia and am one of the earlier Armenian citizens in Sydney(1960’s). My two sons and daughter, all born in Australia, attended Armenian Saturday school during their primary and secondary Catholic schooling. My wife and I went out of our way to take the children to Saturday school and also participated with the school administration and maintenance to the delight of our children who would see us at the school all the time. I am from Tehran and my wife is from Istanbul! two different Armenian dialogues! However, my wife, at her own will for the sake of the children, learnt the eastern dialogue and we seldom mixed the two dialogues at home, but my children would speak the relevant dialogues with their grand parents. They became conversant in both dialogues although they spoke the eastern Armenian predominantly at home. They are all now university graduates and, as a matter of professional necessity the speak English together 60-70% of the time but in Armenian with my wife and myself and their grand parents 75-85% in Armenian. During their growth I had to be very firm with them to ensure they spoke Armenian, at least, at home, despite to their partial resentment and resistance. But, my elder son told me,later on, that he now appreciates that I was so hard and made them speak Armenian at home, as he can see most of his other Armenian friends have not learned the language as their parents did not encouraged them to speak their language at home. During our trip to Armenia we were congratulated by the locals for our chldren’s ability to speak Armenian so fluently. The moral of this story is that the preservation of any language starts early from home, either by natural speaking or by attending courses. Not easy but must be persevered at the cost of parent’s convenience sacrifices.

  12. Required reading for all: http://www.amazon.com/Armenian-Americans-From-Being-Feeling/dp/1412842271

    With the passing of generations it is inevitable that a diasporan population will go from “being” to “feeling” Armenian, and feeling Armenian is informed by the demands of daily life in the here and now. Armenian cultural and educational institutions are relevant only insofar as they enhance individual aspirations of success and happiness as defined by personal and local versions of the American Dream.

  13. A comprehensive, well written and useful artcle, well done.
    I only wish it had been written years ago to save a generation of non Armenian speaking Armenians. I brought up lovely children, credit to their parents and the comunity. Regretably facilities did not exist then and I did not teach them Armenian either. Maybe the next generation will learn from our mistakes.

  14. I absolutely love this article!! I would like to share it with my school parents if you would not mind! I am the principal of Ari Guiragos Minassian in Orange County (the only daily Armenian school.)

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