An Interesting Choice
Some rambling reflections on my choice to return to college at 58.
Back in my 20s I had the option to do grad school. I was a decent student in Philosophy at Rutgers University. I had Professors encourage me to consider such a path. And most importantly, I enjoyed it-the ideas, the readings, the discussions, the debates. I enjoyed the whole of the process. That said I was recently married and money was damn tight. And I looked at the number of philosophy jobs out there and decided that despite my passion for the field, it would just limit my options. Sometimes, I wonder if I was just a coward.
I do not know. That was 30 years ago now. Briefly, I considered becoming a Social Studies teacher, though even in that program, I ended up taking a range of classes in education that the Social Studies program found inappropriate for a degree in Social Studies. So I moved on from there too. Ultimately becoming a recruiter for IT Professionals, a vocation I continue to apply. So it has been a long and winding road.
Yet, throughout, I still had an interest in philosophy. I continued to at least read in that space. And when I turned 50 I did feel a need to complete what I had pondered so many years ago. So for the past few years I examined various options, until I finally decided I could complete some type of graduate program at CUNY. Various professors and administrators at CUNY (City University of New York) said that it was more than doable. I had my bachelors from Rutgers, and the requirements were not that demanding. I could work and study.
So, this semester I signed up for for a 300 level Philosophy class at CUNY. Just to get my feet wet. See if i could still do it, more importantly see if I really wanted to do it. In the past I have kept a journal. I have done various blogs online. And today, with this new project, I am looking for someplace to explore and share what it is I am doing here. It is not a common practice, and I realize that I do not today really have a venue to share my experience, so I am here.
The class I signed up for is “Revolutions in Modern Philosophy”, basically an exploration of German Idealism from the late 18th century into the mid-19th century. Think folks such as Kant, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, and even Weber. And for the past few weeks it has been focused on Kant. He was the man that started this project. The others it seem will be largely responding to him. So today it is all about the will, freedom, autonomy, and of course his categorical imperative.
That is what will we read and discuss. An interesting topic for a man who chose to return to school after 30 years. An interesting choice as Texas challenges Roe. Not only is it informative regarding Texas, but likewise is informative on mask wearing, entering into restaurant in NYC for a slice of pizza, etc. That is the beauty of philosophy for me. It routinely offers such insights into the world.
One of the reasons I ponder starting this series is that I am not sure where would be an appropriate place to share this project, to simply vent. Explore. Of course I could just scribble these thoughts into my journal. It would be nice to perhaps engage some of my fellow students in the class, but we are not in class. Rather, we are on Blackboard, an online learning management tool/ platform. I had the habit of engaging professors after class, students and professors. Here, people just sign off. We are all gone in a matter of moments. So what do I do with my amusements, my intrigues, and my frustations?
I have emailed the professor but I feel that is not really appropriate. His email I feel is more for matters relating directly to the class. He may or may not care to read my thoughts and feelings towards this whole experience. So here I am on this Sunday morning considering this option.
We will see.
