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The Armenian Weekly; Volume 73, No. 44; Nov. 3, 2007

Commentary and Analysis:

1. Armenian Day Schools:
Some Random Thoughts About a Not So Random Subject
By Vartan Matiossian

2. The Armenian Language and the Armenian School
By Ardemis Mgrditchian

3. 106-The New Front
By Garen Yegparian

4. Kordz Ooneenk Hayastan
By Tom Vartabedian

5. Letters to the Editor

***

1. Armenian Day Schools:
Some Random Thoughts About a Not So Random Subject
By Vartan Matiossian

One can safely assume that the number of students in Armenian day and
Saturday schools throughout the Eastern U.S. is smaller than that of Sunday
school students. While we look forward to seeing a statistical update in the
future, let us take this assumption as a starting point to address briefly
an old debate in the Armenian-American community: What is the main source of
Armenian identity in this community?
If you have a couple of generations here, it is likely that you will say the
"Church"; if you were born overseas (specifically, the Middle East), your
answer might be the "school," although none of these have to be taken as
absolute truths.
Granted, language and religion are far from being the only elements that
function as shaping forces of Armenian identity. We will discuss them just
for the sake of the arguments put forward below.
While Armenian identity cannot, or should not, rely anymore on a simplistic,
ideologically tainted definition of an Armenian as "someone who knows the
language," any truly Armenian-oriented perspective of community survival
cannot rule out language as an essential marker. (Disclosure: the expression
"Armenian-oriented" is far from advocating any narrow-minded, exclusivist or
nationalist viewpoint.)
If we agree that neither language nor religion can be regarded as defining
"Armenianness," we must nevertheless agree that out of the two, the first
one is the only one able to ensure cultural transmission to the extent that
the past, present and future can be effectively linked. It was first the
language and then the Church. Suffice it to remember that the latter had to
make recourse to the former in the fifth century to translate the Bible and
effectively evangelize people.
In an increasingly secularized world where distinctions in mainstream
Christianity are slowly becoming irrelevant, the thought of religion as a
major shaping force of Armenian identity in the absence of language does not
withstand serious scrutiny. The Jewish case, where religion was the flagship
of survival rather than language for a diasporan society (the long-dead
Hebrew language was resurrected shortly after Jews started to settle in
Palestine in the early 20th century), is not a valid example for obvious
reasons.
Non-Armenian speaking subcommunities in the past and present diaspora have
been able to maintain a certain degree of symbolic ethnicity because of the
presence of Armenian-speakers or at least some semblance of an Armenian
language. Even ritualized expressions of language such as church ceremonies
held in Armenian played a role in the survival of Armenian ethnicity in
Poland long after the forced conversion to Catholicism and subsequent
assimilation of that community in the 17th to 18th centuries and to this
day. If one day the Armenian Church becomes a fully English-speaking
denomination in America, it would also become gradually irrelevant to its
flock from an ethnic viewpoint. In the long term, the distinct profile of
the Armenian Church will be indifferent to the layman who goes to church for
spiritual solace, regardless of the denomination.
This brings us full circle to our main contention. The survival of language
and religion as benchmarks of Armenian identity (we are not excluding
Armenian Catholics or Protestants from this statement) can only be enforced
by a process of transmission which does not stop in a few buzzwords or
catchphrases peppered into English as some relic from the Old World.
Hayeren khoseh! "Speak Armenian!" You have had some elder person at home
lash these two words at you until you came back to your senses and started
to utter some more or less intelligible Armenian phrases. This is one of the
many widespread myths among us -that listening to someone’s forceful speech
contributes to the survival of the language. However, languages spoken in an
increasingly narrow context are not able to function as they should, that
is, as a reflection of the culture they carry. Rather, they function as what
they have become, a reflection of the society that use them.
These languages become a "kitchen language," only bound to go on a downward
spiral inasmuch as its users make no conscientious effort to enrich it or
improve its quality. They willfully downgrade a "living" language (pun
intended), such as Armenian, into a "kitchen" language.
A parent who sends his or her child to an Armenian day school and then pulls
the child out in kindergarten or at some point in elementary school because
"he has already learned enough Armenian" is delusional, to put it mildly.
"Enough" for what? For daily use in the kitchen?
If that kindergartener or elementary school student grows up in a family
where Armenian is the language for daily communication at home; where the
maddening crisscrossing of English and Armenian (and perhaps even Turkish)
is absent, and instead only one language is spoken at a time; where by high
school he is able to speak, write and read at a level comparable to English;
where he is instilled with interest for reading and writing as a vehicle of
natural expression, then one would have nothing to argue about such a
choice.
But how many such children do you know?
Instead, we usually come across a gallery of proud Armenians who are
frequent churchgoers, active participants in community affairs, perhaps avid
readers of Armenian-related books and anxious followers of current events,
but who are unable to speak the language except in some kind of farfetched
jargon, and are willing to donate (e.g. "dump") the books from their father
or grandfather to some Armenian institution, just because they are unable to
read and write the language, or they have gone past the aip, pen, kim (which
they may have as a decoration somewhere in their home).
In the same way as their command of the language is broken, the chain of
cultural transmission eventually becomes broken.
Do you know any other vehicle outside an Armenian day school to make sure
the chain of culture remains unbroken?

Dr. Vartan Matiossian is a scholar in Armenian history and literature with a
remarkable list of publications in Armenian, English and Spanish. He lives
in New Jersey and works at the Hovnanian School.
—————————————— ———————————

2. The Armenian Language and the Armenian School
By Ardemis Mgrditchian

The main factor in raising a generation of Armenian speakers is the Armenian
family, while the role of the Armenian school is to build up on the
foundations and guide pupils on the path of an Armenian education – a role
which ensures the survival of the Armenian language.
The complementary roles of the Armenian family and the Armenian school
outlined above are only ideals, and that ideal does not exist anymore in the
United States, especially on the East Coast. The situation makes us thing of
the eternal question – which one came first, the chicken or the egg? In
other words, the question is whether the use of the Armenian language by
Armenians has declined due to the lack of schools, or whether Armenian
schools have declined due to a decreased use of the language. Regadless of
what the answer is, one thing is clear-a lack of Armenian schools speeds up
the decline of the language, especially in an environment where our children
use English in every aspect of their lives. And due to this overall
situation, the role of the Armenian school in the Eastern Region of the US
is inherently different than its role in other communities. The main
priority of Armenian schools on the East Coast is the issue of keeping the
Armenianl language alive, on top of which they must ensure an good overall
Armenian education, which would include Armenian literature, culture, and
history lessons.
We must confess that the resources we have on the East Coast are simply no
match for the enormity of the challenges we face. Most of the weight has
been placed on the shoulders of a network of Saturday schools and a few
daily schools that have limited resources. The situation looks even dimmer
when we factor in the fact that even the costs of these schools that offer
limited resources are not within the reach of the average Armenian family.
Aside the fact that Saturday schools simply cannot meet the expectations set
to them, they are also not very pleasing for teenage students, who view the
trip to the Saturday school as an obligation that cuts into their weekend
leisure time.
It is unfortunate that our recources are this limited. But then, how can we
confront the issue of language?
1- The Armenian family must not spare any efforts to keep the linguistic
tradition alive. Speaking English is not a sign of intelligence, and not
speaking English is not a sign of ignorance.
2- In Armenian schools, aside from the Armenian language classes, efforts
should be made to ensure that teachers of other subjects are also Armenian
speakers, which would show the students that Armenian is not just secondary,
but it is an ever present means of communication.
3- Schools that only have classes up to the 5th or 6th grade level should
strive to have higher grade classes soon, since that would help the students
spend essential years in language-building in an Armenian environment.
4- Trips to Armenia organized by the schools greatly help in instilling a
love for the Armenian language in students.
5-After the students graduate from day school, they should be urged to
attend Saturday school to continuity Armenian education.
Thus, the issue of education on the East Coast cannot be resolved just by
the efforts of institutions, but require collective efforts by the family,
the school, organizations and other institutions.

Ardemis Mgrditchian is an Armenian schoolteacher, who has taught in Armenian
schools in Aleppo and Cairo. She currently teachers at the St. Stephen’s
Daily and Saturday schools in Boston.
—————————————— ———————————-

106-The New Front
By Garen Yegparian

Read this column in the following context. Shortly after I wrote it, but
before sending it in, I received word that the sponsors of H.Res.106 were
delaying bringing it to a vote. All this does is change the timing of our
efforts, not the substance. In fact, it gives us time to do the very things
I recommend below. Nor does the concluding paragraph require amendment.

***

I think we might all be getting a sense of what it must’ve been like being
subjected to a torture device favored by the late Shah’s SAVAK (secret
police). Evidently, it was a head-enveloping helmet that caused the victim’s
screams to echo, thus "enhancing" the suffering.

The American media is the helmet. The screams are "It’ll never pass," "106’s
supporters are jumping ship," "Give up, it’s hopeless." In particular, the
right wingnut radio and TV operation has been engaged to beat us and the
resolution’s congressional supporters down. No less an "eminence" than Rush
Limbaugh weighed in with his bulk and blather. Fox News was going against us
full force. Not that the remainder of the media was much better, but at
least they weren’t caustic in their criticism.

The ironic result is that we might actually benefit. Some 5,000 articles
have appeared about the resolution in the run-up to the committee vote and
since. That’s a lot of genocide awareness being created. I’d bet we didn’t
get this much exposure while our ancestors were being killed off by the
Turks. Very little of this coverage questions the verity of the genocide,
just the timing of the resolution relative to the Iraq war effort’s need for
Turkish land and air space.

Once again, we should thank the Turkish government for helping us do our job
by spending their millions and using up chits with their U.S. minions.

BUT, this doesn’t mean the news is all good. We must counteract this media
attack or our efforts on the political front will be damaged. In fact,
according to one of our media operatives, that’s EXACTLY the strategy our
opponents have adopted. They’ve opened up a new front where they know we’re
not as strong. They saw they were losing politically-we had the votes-so
they shifted to the media echo/torture chamber.

What are we to do? While still calling members of the House of
Representatives, we must also start pressuring the media. Before going on,
let me tell a VERY illuminating story from the days when the (Azeri) Turks
were massacring us in Baku.

At the time, I was the ANC-Western Region executive director. Coverage by
the LA Times had been undesirable. I called to pursue improvement and spoke
to Simon Li, then the foreign desk editor. He agreed to meet with us. We
were all pleasantly surprised. But what is most telling about this incident
is what he said to us. He asked if we knew why he agreed to meet with us. Of
course we did not. He told us my call was the first where the caller was
calm and rational.

The moral of the story is clear. Good cop, bad cop. Any time you see bad
coverage, start calling the outlet-newspaper, radio or television station,
blog-in question. Get your friends, relatives and neighbors to call. Drive
them nuts. Here, if you use e-mail or snail mail, it’s good. But MUCH better
is the personal impact of a call. Think of how easy it is to ignore
text-electronic or ink-versus someone screaming in your ear. But be sure to
let your local or regional ANC know. You’re creating the entry. Then let
someone who’s media savvy go in. You can go to the various ANC websites
(especially the ANCAs that promptly reports developments), or call the
regional offices for local references-the Eastern Region at (617) 926-3974,
the Western Region at (818) 500-1918.

In your calls or other contact, hit them with facts, press them for
corrections, demand space for op-ed pieces that tell our side of the
resolution story-not the Turkish/Administration/defense lobby’s spin and
lies. The resolution has more co-sponsors, even now, than 90% of the bills
in Congress, and, at its peak, barely a handful had more. Speaker of the
House Nancy Pelosi is still committed to bringing the resolution to a
vote-when has she ever said otherwise? Turkey, no one else, is endangering
the lives of American soldiers by threatening to close its transport routes.
Turkey is threatening to destabilize the entire Middle East by invading
Iraqi-Kurdistan. Why should American values and history (going back to the
relief provided in the immediate aftermath of the genocide) be sacrificed so
Turkey can continue its denial? Who else but a guilty party would go to such
extremes to avert passage of an otherwise minor piece of legislation?

We’re winning. Now would be a very bad time to give up. Pick up another
battering ram, and this time, go for the media.
——————————————- ———————————-

2. Kordz Ooneenk Hayastan
By Tom Vartabedian

I have always been fond of adages. For lack of a better saying in my high
school yearbook, I came up with this proverb: "A little man can do big
things."

Being only 5’7", I sought out a place for the Davids of our society. Being
small was no reason not to slay a Goliath, I figured. Use your size to your
best advantage, whether it was sports or industry.

My grandmother had one that carries to this present day. Whenever things got
tough, she would grind her teeth, clinch her fists and utter, "Kordz ooneenk
Hayastan."

The inference meaning, "We have work, Armenia."

Now, it didn’t matter what the task was. It could have been the day’s wash,
a holiday meal, a project at church or some family issue.

She drew upon her beloved Armenia for inspiration. I do not know its
derivation, whether she got that from her parents or it just came naturally
when she saw her village of Kharpet devastated by the Ottoman Turks.

The work never stopped.

It continued pretty much through my adolescence and early adult life. A day
or week didn’t go by when there wasn’t some occasion for these words,
including the time I ruffled her feathers by playing hooky from Armenian
school.

"You want to bury our language," she would say in broken English. "Kordz
ooneenk Hayastan."

She carried those words to her grave many years later and I thought they
were buried for good when I dated my first "odar" girlfriend, much to the
dissent of my mother who was from the same school of thought.

I overheard her one day telling my father, "Kordz ooneenk Hayastan." Dad was
more of the reticent sort. He never came right out and said it but he might
have been thinking in my favor, "If Armenia has work, let Armenia do it."

My mother was a chip off her mother’s block. More and more, the platitudes
gushed forth, whether it was a low grade on my report card, the time I nixed
Holy Mass at the Armenian Church to go gallivanting in Boston, or balking to
support the family restaurant business.

The fact I turned out to be somewhat active in Armenian circles can directly
be attributed to my mom and not my dad. There were enough "Hayastans" in her
vernacular to start her own country.

You know the old saying. If an epigram is repeated often enough, it becomes
the truth. And more often than not, they can solve an international crisis.
Throughout the course of history, they have been uttered and muttered by the
most venerable of statesmen in every language conceivable.

I wonder how many others resorted to the same quip as my grandmother and
mother. Well, let me tell you, some of it may have rubbed off on me.

Whenever my own children go against my ethnic grain by patronizing some
American venue other than their own, I catch myself saying, "Kordz ooneenk
Hayastan."

Perhaps I’m exaggerating the point, but I look to Armenia for sustenance and
wish a lot of other folks would, too. I look upon Mayr Hayastan as somewhat
of a matron saint to lead our people out of bondage and into a world far
more agreeable.

Could it be that three generations are sharing the same pearl of wisdom?
That those three simple words are linking the past to the present and
changing lives?

What may have started out as a wisecrack 60 years ago has now turned into a
rough diamond of sorts. Its sparkle has come from constant polishing.
Through it all it has evolved a ton of wit and wisdom.

I have three children, all raised inside an Armenian home. I doubt if any of
them will ever utter those words, much less their children.

Has the work of Armenia finally ended? Not as long as I’m still alive.

My oldest daughter married twice in the Armenian Church and except for a
rare visit at Christmas and Easter, seldom finds the time to attend.

Each of the two boys have temporarily removed themselves from their
ethnicity and are gallantly pursuing the American Dream. I constantly lobby
for equal time.

Join an Armenian church near your home. Take in a Boston concert or lecture.
Be part of an April 24th commemoration. Join the committee. Don’t forget
your roots.

I can only dip back into my ancestry and come up with the words my mother
and grandmother often quipped.

I grind my teeth, clinch my fist and utter, "Kordz ooneenk Hayastan!"
———————————- —————————————-

3. Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor,

I enjoy your paper and wish you and your staff continued success. I would
like to comment on the recent discussion over the Armenian Genocide Museum
in Washington. Why spend millions for a museum in Washington, D.C., when in
Armenia, hospitals, schools and factories need money desperately?

Takouhy Bedrossian
New York

***
Dear Editor,

My name is George Alfred Kouchakji. My father was born in Aleppo, and went
to an orphanage in Jerusalem after the death of his father in the beginning
of the 20th century. Our family belongs to the Armenian Catholic Church. I
believe that our origin was in Armenia, although our name does not end in
"ian." I am interested in tracking down the origin of my family as far back
as possible. I have just found the name "Kouchakjian," belonging to the
Armenian community in the U.S. Is there somebody in the Armenian community
there who can help me with relevant information about my origin? Any help
will be much appreciated.

Kind regards,

George Alfred Kouchakji
Switzerland