Jon : My Education, by Various

Previous to graduate study, my education consisted of in large part relatively compartmentalized cabinets of data, the physical manifestations of which were text books, class rooms, professors of various characteristics, and layers of notebooks of no particular organization which pile up, unused, on the bottom shelves of my bookcases. When I drove with all my things to C.H. to begin graduate school, the physical of these manifestations blanketed the floor of my car in no particular order: I am not a naturally compartmentalizing person.

I almost immediately begin doing research, but for a few years the tenor of academic life remained similar , if not identical to that in my undergraduate years. After all, I had done research of a kind before, and its frequent tedium seemed to be a sort of rhythm section which accompanied the more exciting (and varied) acts of learning which took place in the classroom or at my desk over homework assignments. Most importantly, learning was still easily quantified: if I could easily navigate my way through a problem set or anticipate the direction of a lecture then I understood and if I couldn't, I knew that more energy needed to be marshaled. The feedback produced a lovely sense of satisfaction.

Slowly, though, the tune changed. Classes no longer dominated my attention; occasionally a semester would pass without any coursework at all and I was faced with the daunting task of doing only tenuously directed research, and though I had been a relatively good student I found myself an easily distracted and poorly focuses researcher. Research presents many challenges for which school is poor preperation but the one I'd like to describe here is that it does a poor job training you to know what you know.

In the last year or so I've come to realize that my knowledge is increasingly laid about in my mind in disorganized heaps. At a moment's glance, I can't summon up a summary of it by considering the text-books I've read or the courses I've taken. Most of what I am learning now I pick up as I go, frequently more interested in accomplishing a certain task than arriving at a particular understanding.

My education has come to resemble the houses which inspired us to create this blog in the first place: full of disconnected or unused things, things we picked up at a whim or for a convenience and then never used again. Hopefully writing this article is the first step towards producing a more coherent whole out of the mess that is my mind.

My Education : 3 out of 5 stars
Am I keeping it: Yes

Jon_, JonEducation_