I'm going to be straight with you. I love school. That's right, I said it. This is not a recent development, or a flight of fancy that will quickly pass. I have always and will always love school--not a little bit, and not kind of, and not only on snow days, but pretty much everyday. Don't get me wrong, I am still human and do occasionally grumble about bothersome things like deadlines and tests, but those are certainly not deal breakers for me.
Before I go on, I am going to quickly say that while I have always loved school I have developed a particular affinity for the characteristics of university learning, to which the rest of this blog post primarily refers.
For those who think that I am crazy, allow me to explain myself just a little bit. Let me start with reading. The great thing about reading for school is that it is interesting reading, life-changing reading, soul-moving reading. Seriously, try to read some Dante, some Dostoevsky, some Chesterton and remain unmoved. I dare you. I double-dog dare you. It is not always easy. That I readily admit. Sometimes, it is a bear to try and read some of the greats, but man is it worth it. Every once in a while, I find myself saying crazy things like, "Mr. St. Anselm, I love the point that you are making here, but I think that you have repeated the same basic idea over and over again for the past eighty pages." Even then, that point is probably pretty worthy of being repeated, re-examined in a new light. Quick summary here: I like reading because it moves, challenges, and teaches me.
After reading something, I get to write about it. I can write about anything--what I think is right, what I would like to challenge, what it means for me as a human being, what I think it means for humanity, what it means at all--all of these questions are fair game. These questions don't have to stop at writing, either. A university provides a place to discuss such questions with peers and some amazingly learned people called professors. What more could I want?
I'll tell you what I wanted. I wanted a law degree. I wanted some prestige, some good money, the fabulous life of galas, charity auctions, and country clubs. I think I could have been good at it, too. I probably could have done well in corporate, international banking, tax law, and the like. Would I be satisfied? No. Would I be helping others? Not in the way I would really like. Let me clarify something right quick, before any lawyer people get me wrong. Being a lawyer is not a bad thing. It is not something that I at all condemn. Lawyers perform valuable services in our society. I just wanted to be a lawyer for all of the wrong reasons.
How did I come to see this problem? A few amazing professors, classes, books, and programs (coughcranescholarscough) all helped me to realize that I could live out my dream of being in school forever. Once I saw that, something just clicked. I could finally see how wrong law school would have been for me. My eyes finally opened to see that not only could I be in school forever, but I could be a professor and make an impact on students of my own one day. How cool is that? For me, it is really darn cool.
Now, the adventure of trying to get in to graduate school begins. I confess that I was stressed and worried about it at first, but I have got some wonderful people cheering for and helping me. This is a dream that I happily stumbled upon. Now that I have got it, I am ready to run with it.
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