This made me laugh and tear up a little. Especially the part about working at a gas station while reading Dostoevsky. I’ve been there,well, not exactly a gas station, but close. The dream jobs don’t always show up when you want them to. But I still remember the feeling of understanding Rilke for the first time. College didn’t give me a clear career, but it gave me a way to survive meaninglessness. And sometimes, that’s the bigger gift.
I used to sit behind the front desk at a hotel night shift, sneaking in pages of Hermann Hesse or Clarice Lispector between check-ins. It wasn’t glamorous, but those books kept me going. Sometimes I think the real value of college isn’t the degree, but learning how to carry a quiet life with curiosity and dignity. That’s a kind of success too.
You speak of getting a genuine education from college, never being able to read Dostoyevsky before college. I feel the same way. Yet sometimes I wish to haunt my high-school bedroom, force that little boy to pick a different program: "do something that pays! It's not for your soul, it's for your wallet!" What was I thinking, believing the cover-story of the college system? Obviously I should have been a Data Scientist like Karen Hao. Then I would have worked at Google, and pivoted into writing non-fiction.
College has a huge rift in it. How long is it until we have two college systems, one where you read Dostoyevsky, and one where you learn to be an actuary or prompt engineer, and the electives are elective?
Thanks, I will peruse these vids. I guess I had the impression that the humanities were seriously floundering, but it seems there are still bright spots. I’ve watched a few published video courses from top schools (a Yale prof on the Hebrew Bible e.g.). Somehow, Yale openly publishing their lectures doesn’t seem to dilute their value much. What’s going on there?
My university was not so elite, but it did attract professors who cared more about teaching than researching: Quest University. Can’t say I did much writing there, having taken an eclectic mix of science and humanities, but those teachers did push my reading level.
I run into people all the time who graduated from ‘top programs’ and haven’t read a book since. Plus, I used to teach the Chinese students who get into top schools without ever having read a novel in the language of instruction. Those are my indicators and the source of my disdain.
This made me laugh and tear up a little. Especially the part about working at a gas station while reading Dostoevsky. I’ve been there,well, not exactly a gas station, but close. The dream jobs don’t always show up when you want them to. But I still remember the feeling of understanding Rilke for the first time. College didn’t give me a clear career, but it gave me a way to survive meaninglessness. And sometimes, that’s the bigger gift.
I used to sit behind the front desk at a hotel night shift, sneaking in pages of Hermann Hesse or Clarice Lispector between check-ins. It wasn’t glamorous, but those books kept me going. Sometimes I think the real value of college isn’t the degree, but learning how to carry a quiet life with curiosity and dignity. That’s a kind of success too.
You speak of getting a genuine education from college, never being able to read Dostoyevsky before college. I feel the same way. Yet sometimes I wish to haunt my high-school bedroom, force that little boy to pick a different program: "do something that pays! It's not for your soul, it's for your wallet!" What was I thinking, believing the cover-story of the college system? Obviously I should have been a Data Scientist like Karen Hao. Then I would have worked at Google, and pivoted into writing non-fiction.
College has a huge rift in it. How long is it until we have two college systems, one where you read Dostoyevsky, and one where you learn to be an actuary or prompt engineer, and the electives are elective?
Thanks, I will peruse these vids. I guess I had the impression that the humanities were seriously floundering, but it seems there are still bright spots. I’ve watched a few published video courses from top schools (a Yale prof on the Hebrew Bible e.g.). Somehow, Yale openly publishing their lectures doesn’t seem to dilute their value much. What’s going on there?
My university was not so elite, but it did attract professors who cared more about teaching than researching: Quest University. Can’t say I did much writing there, having taken an eclectic mix of science and humanities, but those teachers did push my reading level.
I run into people all the time who graduated from ‘top programs’ and haven’t read a book since. Plus, I used to teach the Chinese students who get into top schools without ever having read a novel in the language of instruction. Those are my indicators and the source of my disdain.