Article April 9, 2012 Issue

You are not a number

Taylor Blakely

I teach English to adults who are learning it as a second language. 

In some cultures it’s normal, even considered friendly, to ask a person’s age. I usually prefer not to talk about it, though. As a student of Christian Science, I take to heart something Mary Baker Eddy said in Science and Health: “Never record ages. Chronological data are no part of the vast forever. Time-tables of birth and death are so many conspiracies against manhood and womanhood” (p. 246). 

Not long ago, during a class discussion, I was caught off guard when a well-meaning student asked, “Teacher, how old are you?” I started to say something about how I try not to keep track of age, but realized that this would be a bit difficult to explain, especially given the students’ varied levels of comprehension in their new language. So we discussed how this question is often considered “personal” in American culture, and not always appropriate.

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