As promised, I've finally gotten around to writing a few things that I'm glad Briercrest taught me. It seems as though I only post here when I have a paper I could be writing but after about a 12 hour day in the library I really feel the need to write stuff that doesn't make sense (or makes too much sense for nearly nobody to handle). <-- Point Made That Newer is not Always Better
We read a lot of classic works at Briercrest and I feel like I have a much better foundation in Greek and Medieval thought than many of my peers not specializing in this area. I've heard people talk about reverse chronological snobbery (sounds like an A+ phrase to throw into an otherwise mediocre paper--maybe I'll include it in mine...) but this seems to be far from the case at U of M. If it's more recent it's almost certain to be better, but I think that not having this as an automatic assumption helps me to think critically about recent findings.
How to Work
This may be surprising but Briercrest is at least as hard at as University. Things are a bit harder for me now because I'm in 4 Joel-F. heavy reading classes but I have no problem finding what seems as much if not more free time than I had while at B-crest.
Knowing Literature and Philosophy
Though I might not have as much of a history background as some of the honours students I definitely have a broader background to draw from in philosophy, literature, and theology. It might be surprising, but knowing a bit of theology has really helped me understand some of the concepts in my history classes.
Recognizing that there is something more important than the political:
It seems to me that the political situation represents the be-all-end-all of history. Though I think it would be good for political thought to become a bit more mainstream at Briercrest, (a poli-sci professor in the future would be cool) its nice to rest assured that even if the political situation is far from ideal there is hope beyond the present. Teleological or eschatological are pejorative terms it seems and it seems really hopeless for the third world. I guess the flip-side of this though is that it prevents the political passivity that can result from viewing the future as more important than the present.
That Profs are people:
I probably would have learnt this wherever I went but I think the opportunity of working as an FA and taking NUMEROUS classes with the same professors really allows some great relationships to develop. Even year-long classes with the same prof is hardly enough time to develop a relationship so I really enjoyed this about B-crest.
P.S. Here's a link Dr. C. shared with me about Derrida. It's a good read if you are interested.
That academics can have meaning:
Now that I'm outside of B-crest it seems hard to see my work as having value. There is no Kingdom work to be done only paper after paper. It's nice to share a collective goal with other students even if you don't know who they are.
I wish I would have been a Physics major:
Math hardly seems like work compared to writing a 12 page paper. Just kidding though, being able to talk about anything is probably more important than knowing the Avagadro constant. I will retract this statement once I'm done my paper.
There is a lot more that I'm thankful about as well: Friends, Faith, and Philosophy, but the internet is no place to talk about that unless you are getting paid or have a readership beyond your mom.
Hi mom.
If I were to do it over again I think I'd take physics--but maybe I'd still show up at Briercrest first...
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