Today I caught some negative attention for taking so many classes at UVa. While I'm only working on 16 credit hours this semester, they are spread over nine independent classes. My goals, however, aren't to get that elusive A+. I want to diversify. I operate in passion and abstraction. I often turn to theologians to try to interpret my fervor to understand. It was Baruch Spinoza who put my compulsion best when he said "Do not weep; do not wax indignant. Understand." In order to consider whether or not the way I conduct myself is justifiable, I am going to walk through my day.
Today.
I wake up at 8:30 and amble over to the dining hall for breakfast and coffee. While there, I peruse my copy of Kant's Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals in preparation for Introduction to Moral and Political Philosophy. At 9:20 I walk to Philosophy with a friendly amount of caffeination in my veins. At 10:20 the lecture terminates and I walk out, philosophizing with a friend of mine. In a few minutes I am ready for Chemistry, my assignment printed and my mind alert. At 11:00, Harman begins his excited take on the configuration of orbitals, packing his lecture with enough conceptual gold that I remember how much I do enjoy chemistry itself. At 12:15, the class ends, and I go to the Observatory Hill dining hall with some people from my hometown, where we retrospectively and anticipatorily describe the duality of debauchery and temperance associated with college life. I attempt to take a nap after my meal, but as I drift into the sleepy limbo that is the power-nap, I hear a banging sound and a strong voice saying "fire inspector!". Fortunately, the Fire Marshall did not inspect my room. It was far too messy, as during my recent convalescence I did not feel like maintaining order. At 4:00, I had a chem-lab lecture which I chose not to attend. I generally don't have a need to go that class because they simply read off a powerpoint that is provided online. At 5:00, I show up to Psychology of Electronic Language class and discuss the vagaries of modern language and such. After that class ended, I had a 45 minute lull, which I chose to fill with a rushed dinner. Then, I was off to my 7:00 philosophy discussion. There, I brought up that Aristotle is undermining the reality of friendship with his claim that the principal purpose of a friend is to be a looking glass though which to view your own virtues and therefore justify your virtuosity. Now, I am in the engineering building, in search of a fleeting distraction (this entry) from my awful mathematics homework due in 8 days that I must get done tonight in order to manage my commitment to both working hard and playing hard.
yeah........ my schedule actually is pretty rough. I am a volcano with a vast hidden expanse of eventual-exhaustion-lava that is bound to one day lethargically erupt.
Jacob really likes fire.
Looking around me, I can tell that engineers never sleep.
Nothing is defensible unless you have a profound belief in at least one thing. You fall flat on your face if you invariably avoid faith. Mathematics needs to believe that even imaginary numbers are real enough to express. Sociology needs to believe that people are composed of infinitely more than their biochemistry. And I believe that Renaissance Men don't take it easy. They diversify.
10 years ago
2 comments:
I think your schedule sounds brilliant. Your right about engineers never sleeping, but on top of that, we don't get to take as many classes that genuinely interest us. That is why I envy your schedule. I assume it allows you to be mentally stimulated by a variety of different subjects. Because of that, you (I assume) have the elusive opportunity of drawing abstract and unique connects between your courses that (once again, I assume) augments what you take away from your courses. As long as you enjoy your courses and are gaining something from them, I see no problem.
What other courses are you taking? I would thoroughly enjoy a cliff notes version (or longer if you have the time) of a broad spectrum of courses. Unfortunately, as an engineer, my time is limited to learning what has been predetermined for me. That is why I go to bookstores and pick up whatever looks interesting in an attempt to broaden my horizons. Also the STS course have a bit of wiggle room to be interesting, which is refreshing.
Be ecstatic that you have made your passions your curriculum.
"I feel, sometimes, as the renaissance man must have felt in finding new riches at every point and in the certainty that unexplored areas of knowledge and experience await at every turn."
- Polykarp Kusch
I wish. Maybe after I'm done paying out of state tuition.
Thank you for the kind response! I'm working on a philosophy paper so I'll probably be rather brief: I also take Intro to Western Religion, an easy survey class that is incredibly rewarding. I learn about when and where the descendants of Abraham split into Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. I take a laboratory course where I apply what I've gleaned from the aforementioned powerpoints. That is the part that I most dread out of my whole week, simply because my atrocious lab goggles fog up something fierce every couple of minutes. Undoubtedly my favorite class is my English Writing class, a section called Pavilion Writers, wherein we study reasoning and workshop our papers. The teacher for that section is a hilarious, artsy guy named Fran. Also entertaining is the fact that one third of the class is named Michael.
Thank you for the interesting quote, and I will see you Thursday.
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