Thank you, Robin

For reminding me why I did it and why I shouldn't regret it for a second.

(I don't 99.99% of the time, but there are those three minutes a month when I'm hitting submit on student loans that are the same as my rent.)

I'm not even going to read the New York Times debate. It shouldn't be about the money, but the decision to go to grad school and some of the feelings after having gone are consumed by the money issue, and that really sucks, but it's the reality of living in this situation. But what is just as if not infinitely more important is that further education and the increased ability to think critically and write effective arguments and integrate research and analysis in a meaningful way that has nothing to do with memorization for a test is the only thing that leads to real change, as much as we try to convince ourselves that the Conversation, in an academic sense, has nothing to do with some sort of Real World that really has nothing to do with some sort of intelligentsia who are just engrossed in philosophical mental masturbation. No, no, no!

The conversation matters.

To repeat the example of headscarves in Parisian schools: there is an argument that the headscarves defy the separation of church and state in public schools, but there are so many other sides to this debate. It has to do with the fact that the headscarves are being worn by women, by Muslims, by Muslim women, by a religious minority, by the women of a religious minority, by the women of a religious minority in a Western European state that sees itself as highly enlightened in feminist matters because of a long tradition of feminisms and feminists, etc. And a master's degree produces the kinds of scholars who are trained to sort out all of these interconnections in a way that doesn't reduce an issue to a conclusion where only one voice - especially if that voice is purporting to be representative of some kind of majority and claiming authority based on that - is heard above all others.

So maybe a debate can be about "freedom of choice," but it also needs to be about what "freedom of choice" means, and because of my master's degree I can never take catchphrases like "freedom of choice" at face value because "freedom of choice" never has a set meaning.

Because nothing has a set meaning.

Such is the nature of language, and my knowing that and being able to analyze a text, an argument, a work of art, an idle conversation across the bar, etc., is more meaningful to me, more important to me, more valuable to me, than a business degree, which would probably make me a lot more money, and it's fine if that's what another person's choice for their life is, but it wouldn't work for me. So my really expensive humanities degree is exactly what I want to have accomplished, which means I am exactly where I want to be, and being reminded of that in such an unexpected way (how could I have known that I would read this article today?) is very fulfilling.

And now I'm going to enjoy some of this sunshine.

Did I mention I'm also reading Nietzsche this week? What's on your summer reading list?