Of Moons, Birds & Monsters

Creator by Santogold

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In my first week of English IV in high school, we were punched thoroughly in the gut with an essay assignment. Our teacher gave us a sheet of paper describing the requirements, including a few quotes, citations, and the page length. There was a mutual groaning emanating from the class, save for me. I was nonchalant, confident, you might say. Essays had always been my forte—somehow I could manage to write a very structured and efficient three pages without really working too hard. This method usually resulted in high 90’s, which were sufficient enough for me at the time. This assignment was no different; I did not err in my ways. A few hours were spent on the paper without much thought, and I retired feeling a sort of smug satisfaction.

In those days, my eyes were not accustomed to anything remotely close to a “70” on a paper. What was this strange and exotic looking number? I examined it closely and with interest before the horror, oh the horror, set in. 70?! I was toeing the line of failing?! Obviously, the teacher was having my laugh. I thumbed through the pages and looked at her comments, and for once in my life, was faced with the harsh reality: it was not a good paper.

Looking back, this was most likely the best English class I’ve ever had. Prior to this class, we had always been taught that writing an essay is like baking a cake: five paragraphs, one introductory and concluding paragraph, three body paragraphs, with a sprinkle of quotes and above all else, a purpose. You start with a purpose, and, if executed correctly, you end with the purpose achieved.

Yet our teacher taught us that the essays we had written prior to this were all bogus. They were formulated and contrived, and they did not truly reflect anything that we believed in. They hardly expected us to think or to care. She taught us that writing an essay is like writing in search of something; an essay is like a journey, and perhaps we reach a conclusion, perhaps we don’t. But that is the purpose of an essay, to question, to doubt, and to imagine. Our essays didn’t necessarily have to reach a conclusion, but they had to show that we thought thoroughly and searched avidly. To put it simply, it was about the journey, not the destination.

I can compare this idea to many things, in particular the idea of a university. For some odd reason, we start out in life believing that our worth to the world depends wholly on the things we accomplish. We strive for years to reach the most prestigious university possible, all whilst the dreams that we h

ad as children, of being firefighters or movie stars or archeologists are told “no” by society’s (and perhaps our parents) dreams of producing doctors, lawyers, or businessmen.

I was faced with this dilemma as I started my journey at UT. I just didn’t know WHAT I wanted to do. Was I content with not knowing? … No. I am uneasy at the though. I even had a fit of madness in which I enrolled in economics, believing that business was the right path for me, before I slapped myself. There was no way I could spend the rest of my life doing business. And what’s more, I DESPISE economics. But this was the state into which I was wrought, because I believed that my future had to be cemented before I even realized what I wanted my future to be.

All I knew was that I wanted to know everything and anything possible. After all, this is most likely one of the las

t chances we have of just learning. When again will we be able to learn French, Chemistry, the state of politics in Africa, and music all in one environment? John Newman states,

“Knowledge is capable of being its own end. Such is the constitution of the human mind, that any kind of knowledge, if it be really such, is its own reward…What the worth of such an acquirement is, compared with other objects which we seek,--wealth or power or honour or the conveniences and comforts of life, I do not profess here to discuss; but I would maintain, and mean to show, that it is an object, in its own nature so really and undeniably good, as to be the compensation of a great deal of thought in the compassing, and a great deal of trouble in the attaining…” (X309)

A university is a place in which knowledge is abundant and welcome. It is a place in which the seeds of greatness are cultivated in minds, and thinking for oneself is encouraged. In a way, there exists in a university a freedom that we may seldom find elsewhere: a freedom to think and to understand. 

 It unifies us all under the banner of education, yet allows us to decide for ourselves.

“It is more correct, as well as more usual, to speak of a University as a place of education, than of instruction…” (X310)

What do these lawyers know of astronomy?  Very little.

Can we call someone truly educated if they only specialize in one subject? What are their factoids on marine biology to a group of musical theory enthusiasts? I believe that a true education means that one is learned in

 all aspects, for then not only do they KNOW, but also they UNDERSTAND. Their thoughts are unified and connected, and they can bring insights into diverse slew of things.

Newman states,
“It [education] shows him how to accommodate himself to others, how to throw himself into their state of mind, how to bring before them his own, how to influence them, how to come to an understanding with them, how to bear with them. He is at home in any society…” (X313)

Even though I still don’t know 

where I’m going, I at least know that I’m going somewhere. I know that I will have my education in one hand and my thirst for more in the other. With these resources, I am content at least to know that there is something out there for me, and that I WILL find it. Just as my essay, the destination is not important at this point, but the things I learn along the way. Whatever I end up doing, I know that I will never regret dedicating a great part of my life to it, because I won’t have, thanks to this university, and especially Plan II. I will be just as learned in other subjects, and will call myself truly educated.

(Lyrics to Creator by Santogold):

Got no need for the fancy things
All the attention that it brings
Tell me no, I say yes, I was chosen
And I will deliver the explosion

Can't say it's gonna get me far
Do no good to say what you are
I run the streets and I break up houses
River runs deep and the flame devours it

Me, I'm a Creator
Thrill is to make it up
The rules I break got me a place
Up on the radar
Me, I'm a Taker
Know what the stakes are
Can't roll it back, it's understood
Got to play our cards

Sit tight I know what you are
mad bright but you aint no star
polish up til you make it gleam
your M.O, I know what you mean
Tail ridin' and I know it's true
while they screamin' I love you
Down deep you know there aint no flow
a soul decay, was D.O.A

I know what you here for now
Words out you're an idea whore though,
now don't you crush on me
I'll see you in your pipe dreams
whether or not you know it's true
You're who they dictate to
That shit must hurt real bad
fakin' what you wish you had

Here all the folks come ask about me
Band wagon, know they used to doubt me
Blind side tend to hit real hard
you should heed the warning, get a body guard

Steady friction in this bitch
Creepin' in just like an itch
so far I got the last laugh
still the rich rise up, still I live fast
wouldn't know it face to face
Got no soul and got no taste
Moving in speed up the pace
I got it locked though, what a waste

All the talk is standard fare
Walk the walk if it gets you there
on the grind til the gig is up
Im 'a smash 'em down
put a muzzle on them like "what!"