An Education

I miss school. Perhaps not so much the deadlines, the seemingly pointless essays and assignments, or the self-important lectures of arrogant professors (of whom, thankfully, I had very few), but I miss the free discussion of ideas, that in all honesty have little practical application but were still fascinating.

Most of the conversations I have at work are about Microsoft Excel, our perpetually challenged digital asset management system, or our beleaguered website. To be honest, conversation may be a generous term. Long strings of obscenities exchanged back and forth may be a more accurate assessment. It leaves a lot to be desired.

So it is with great wistfulness that I look back on discussions about abstract theories and ideas. Does the language we use really shape the way in which we perceive the world? By using 'phallocentric' language, do we really reinforce the already dominant patriarchal bias in our culture? Could one invention, the printing press, really spark a revolution of thought or were there other factors involved? Why has Western civilization played such a dominant role in the world to this point? How do we reconcile the different understandings of God without denigrating our own? 

To ask some of these questions in normal conversations seems absurd. Outside a traditional academic setting, most anyone I know would stare at me a moment after I asked and return to talking about the latest episode of "Dancing With the Stars." (Which then sparks the question "what is it about today's society that supports/encourages us to indulge in this kind of voyeurism; to elevate people from a certain field as being worthy of celebration and support?") And really, outside of satisfying my random curiosity, I admit these questions have no real practical application. Within the microcosm of academia, though, it makes sense.

Granted, I am idealizing the experience of education. I talk here in its truest form...where discourse is encouraged to test, to challenge previously held understandings in order to gain a better understanding of the world around us. With that understanding would hopefully come a desire to extend what we know to those around us. For knowledge gained and not shared is a waste, and as some might say, an immoral act. (My knowledge of philosophy is tenuous...as is much of the 'knowledge' I possess, so please forgive any overgeneralizations.) I just wish that I gave myself more opportunity to learn because as it stands, my mind feels stagnant, my ability to learn stifled.

Sprechen Sie Deustch?

Nur ein bisschen, aber ich mochte sprechen besser.

Rothenburg ob der Tauer -- it was when I was visiting here, I realized one semester abroad just wasn't enough.

What is with the German? It all started yesterday, one of those afternoons where the prospect of spending one more minute in an Excel spreadsheet threatened to send even the most stable of people over the edge. The fact that it was sunny, warm, and Friday only heightened my restlessness, so I engaged a good friend in a conversation about what we would do if we didn't have to be sitting in that office.  Not the small kinds of things that we would most likely do once we were free of our cubicles, but the lofty goals, the "If you won the lottery..." kind of scenarios. Not surprisingly, travel was the first on both of our lists, and after going back and forth a bit, we floated back to earth and finished out the projects for the day.

Since that conversation, though, I have put more serious thought into the question. What would I do, really? Well, world travel would be high on my list, but if time and resources weren't and issue, I would do an intensive course studying German in Germany itself, taking the knowledge of my four years in high school studying under the tutelage of Frau Person and her extensive use of the German TV series Forsthaus Falkenau (which I learned from IMDB stayed on the air through 2010! Who knew the Rombach family had enough of a story to last 20+ years?) and moving from basic proficiency to actual fluency.

Seems a bit strange, perhaps, but I have always wanted to be able to converse with someone in a language other than English. I think one can learn a lot about a culture based on the language they speak, not only by learning the rules that govern its structure and meaning, but its adaptability, its vocabulary, etc. Language affects the way in which one thinks and expresses those thoughts. Language is identity. Not to get on to large of a soap box here, but I think learning a foreign language is an important part of any education. Yes, English often seems to be the lingua franca in current society, but it is sheer arrogance to think it should be.

And, really, learning other languages often helps in understanding our own even better. I didn't truly understand sentence structure in English until I had studied German for a couple of years. My couple of semesters of Welsh revealed a language, while sometimes guttural and harsh, possessing an innate musicality harnessed by its greatest poets to establish Wales as a country of bards. Even when listening to my friends chant ancient Greek in college, it was possible to connect the modern version in our language today.

What is the entire point of this post? I guess to say that if I were to take the bold (and crazy) step of leaving my job, the first thing I would want to do is throw myself into learning something new in a location far from home. A more rational approach would be to seek out German classes locally, either offered by a university or a language school. Doing that at least would be a step toward one of my life's goals, and it wouldn't impoverish me in the process. Still, it wouldn't be quite as exciting...

What would you do if you were to take a bold step away from the daily grind--or perhaps you already have?