One of those moments.
You never know when someone is going to say something that will stick with you forever. It doesn't change your life fundamentally, it just sticks in the back of your brain and on occasion, you have been tempted to spray paint it on public buildings. There are several of those moments in my life, but this is one of my favorites.
My college freshman world history professor pointed at us and told us that if we were here to get training for a job, we should leave. The university was NOT designed as a job training center, but to broaden people's horizons in philosophy, history, arts, science, math, literature. . . That is why the ancient Greeks designed the University, to open peoples minds to ideas - IDEAS!
I must have repeated this one thousand times to myself through college. Without a doubt, the job I have today is a direct result of my degree and the training I received while attending college, but I did take his words to heart and I did take as many mind broadening classes as possible. I have a BS is soil science with a vague understanding of Buddhism and Hinduism, a background of politics in film, a historical prospective of American theater, a tiny grasp of anthropological art and a vague appreciation of Freud. I could have taken the easy route and only taken the core classes that my co-students took, but I took liberal arts classes that intrigued me, even some beyond what was required in the core curriculum. Heck, I was there, I was paying out the ass, why not learn SOMETHING?!?!
Without a doubt, agristology has helped me in my job, but Buddhism has helped me in my life. I can't look at a mountain without trying to unlock the geomorphology just as I can't watch a movie without trying to understand the political underpinnings of the filmmaker.
Apparently I have been thinking about going back to school. Just like all of you with a BS or a BA always do. Work sucks, I should just go back to school. I have learned so much in my life, I would be a WAY better student this time around. I will take more pottery classes. School was easy, work is hard. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Props to those of you who went back.
Good news to those MT kids who want to go in the first place. If there was a program like that in place when I went to school, I would be about $120 richer every month.
2 comments:
Don't go to law school.
Kalilaw
Yeah, I've seen what happens to you after you do that. I think it will just be a master's degree in something soils, geology, water, something or other. I have to tell you that I found some of my acceptance letters to graduate school the other day when I was going through some old papers. It would have been fun, but I am glad to be here today.
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