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NewsvineThe left row of the Stanford Bookstore’s lowest floor houses a wall of books labeled “Continuing Studies.” It’s comfortably settled across from the IHUM section and next to the literature on African and Middle Eastern Languages.
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For most students, those books are the most contact they’ll have with the Continuing Studies Program (CSP) and its workshops, seminars and courses taught by Stanford faculty. At around $400 per quarter per course — less than half the cost of undergraduate courses — CSP lets Bay Area residents get a dose of a Stanford education. Credit does not go towards a Stanford degree.
Differences from standard courses are apparent at first glance.
Undergraduates in Language Center lecturer Yu-hwa Rozelle’s introductory Chinese classes might daydream of a future job or marriage. For Jess Goldberg, a student in Rozelle’s CSP Beginning Chinese class, not so much. He was a UPS executive for 32 years, has three kids and is now a director of accountant management for Menlo Worldwide, in San Mateo.
Students in the CSP comprise a wide slice of society, with many having jobs and families. Others are retired. Rozelle’s class ranges in age from 20 to 60, and in occupation from writers to lawyers to engineers. Family members, business and recent travels motivate most who take the course. In Goldberg’s case, it’s all three.
His wife is Chinese, and Goldberg yearns to converse with his in-laws and wife in their first tongue.
“I have a great desire to be able to ‘stumble through’ a conversation with my wife,” he said. “She is most expressive in her native language.”
Goldberg first visited China in 1995, when he and his wife adopted a daughter. Since then, he has returned regularly for vacations, and is planning on making a growing number of trips for business.
The material covered in CSP courses closely parallels what is taught to undergraduate students. Rozelle incorporates her own lesson plans into both her undergraduate and CSP classes.
CSP classes meet only once a week, and with students balancing career and family, their pace and teaching style differ.
“I slow down my teaching, and try to understand what problems CSP students might have as I teach,” Rozelle said.
While Rozelle gives her CSP classes homework and weekly quizzes, they don’t have the midterms she gives to her undergraduate classes, and the CSP final is take-home.
Goldberg says he’s happy with the classes, wishing only they were a bit longer. He plans to continue his CSP studies into winter quarter.
“I always look forward to my trips to China,” Goldberg said. “By the end of the quarter, I hope to gain the ability to partake in elementary conversations, and to be able to get through most travel situations.”
Rozelle says she’s eager to teach her students.
“In Chinese, there is a saying: ‘you zhi zhe, shi jing sheng’: ‘where there is a will, there is a way,’ “ said Rozelle. “I have a lot of respect for my CSP students. I want them to know that it is never too late to learn Chinese, and that it’s fun.”
Contact Chelsea Ma at chelseama@stanford.edu.