Academic Generalists- People Who Connect the Dots

Again, based on inspiration from Tony Judt's book Ill Fares the Land, I am prompted to explore the concept of "Academic Generalists".  By "Academic Generalists",  I mean people who care to get invested in various academic fields and investigate the similarities and differences of the seemingly disparate subjects.  My impression from my own limited graduate school experience is that structured academia values people who have an incredibly deep understanding of a small part of a field of study.  This way of doing things was not and is not appealing to my academic persona.  The more interesting parts of my graduate experience happened at my apartment where I was the only person studying chemistry among roommates who had studied economics and public policy.

A related area of investigation for me is the idea of institutions of higher learning as microcosms of the real world, with all the benefits and limitations of working closely with other humans.  I personally found graduate school to be limiting of free thought and was deeply disappointed at how important the human aspect of interactions were to success.  By this, I am referring to classic "brown-nosing".

I'm sure I will be developing these ideas in future posts.

A Brief Thought

I am reading Tony Judt's book "Ill Fares the Land" and I just had a spontaneous thought that I want to put into words.

Is it possible that the greatest evil on earth is taking advantage of the trust of another individual or group of individuals in order to achieve one's aims?  Okay, maybe not the greatest evil, but one of the greatest?

Rand Paul Hits the Big Stage

I am riveted by the whole Rachel Maddow/Rand Paul interview.  Rand was saying things I've heard people I'm close to, including relatives, say in private.  It was very satisfying to hear the complexities of his view come into full light in the national public spotlight.  His views are like makeup that looks good in the mirror under low light but looks awful in the full light of day.  When exposed to the full light of national scrutiny, his views leave a lot to be desired.

Rand has a world perspective that reflects his limited, cozy life experiences.  As his views get debated on the larger stage, I hope that the value of a broader education becomes the lesson for people.  If people spend a percent of the time they spent reading the Bible on learning more about the rest of the world outside of Christianity, they would serve the planet better.  Education is such a gift because it can give us a view outside of our life bubble.  I personally have a thirst to understand the experiences of others as best I can given the limitations of my perspective.  I hope that the lesson from Rand Paul is for more people to step out of their small, limited world view and attempt to see the world as it affects more people.  Only then can we have true empathy.

Two Days of School Left

The end of the school year is always particularly stressful for me.  As an ENFP personality type (see Myers-Briggs test) I am a big starter of things but necessarily a strong finisher.  There is so much I wish I had done differently and some things that went fine.  I have wonderful students.  The kids fill my heart- even the tough ones.

Summer begins soon.  I plan to write, so check back on this blog...