Thursday, May 12, 2005

What Do I Want to do With My Life?

I don't really know, and that's a scary thought to me. But that's partly what college is for though right? To figure these things out. And I'm still only in my first year... so how am I supposed to know what I want to do with the rest of my life when I'm only 19??
As I mentioned a while back, I've been thinking seriously about changing my major. Right now for those of you who don't know I'm majoring in Liberal Studies. Meaning I am majoring to become an elementary school teacher, and that is about it. I don't know if this is what I really want to do with my life. In fact the more I think about it the more I feel this little doubt lurking around in the back of my mind.
So you're probably thinking, well then duh, change your major! Good idea, but I don't know what to change it to! I was skimming through the course catalog tonight, reading about random majors and trying to figure out if any of them interested me at all. Sophia and I were talking about the classes we've taken over the past year and the classes that we've both enjoyed the most were our philosophy classes. The first semester I took Philosophy 110, which was a critical thinking course. It was mostly about learning how to determine if arguments are valid or invalid, what faults there are in some claims and surveys. And also how to construct ones own "sound" argument. This semester I took Philosophy 101, which was a moral philosophy class. We studied philosophers such as Locke, Aristotle, and Kant. And theories like utilitarianism and what a just war is.
Anyway, whoa, sorry tangent. But from that you can probably already tell that I am really interested in philosophy. When I am learning about moral theories and how to determine what a valid argument is, and can actually apply what I have learned to debates and life, I feel like I am learning something worthwhile. I feel "smart" in a sense. To me it feels like this is what college is supposed to teach you.
Well, all this to say that I am thinking about minoring in Philosophy. No, not majoring, don't get too nervous. I don't know if I can handle it that much. But I at least want to be able to take more classes in Philosophy. The one thing that I really don't like about Liberal Studies is that it touches on the surface of many things, but doesn't go really deep into anything. So for now, the more I think about it the more I get excited. Yes, it will most likely take me more than 4 years to graduate if I choose to do this. But at the same time I think it's worth it. The parents and their pocketbooks might have a hard time with it, but I'm sure they'll understand.
What good is a Philosophy minor you may be wondering? Well actually there are alot of careers that can go with this, including careers in government, industry, finance, social services, law, education. And all of these are fairly broad in and of themselves. Meaning not a waste of my time. Then again, when is increasing one's knowledge ever a waste of time?
Ok, so I've figured out that I want to minor in Philosophy. A little scary, but exciting at the same time. Now the only problem is I still don't know about a major!! This summer I'm taking a Psychology class... maybe we'll see how that one goes. The only other class I've really enjoyed out of my year in college was my Sociology class... A major in Liberal Studies and a minor in Philosophy? Haha, that's funny... or lets see, A major in Philosophy and a minor in Sociology? Or a major in Psychology and a minor in Philosophy, or vice versa?
Hmmm... I don't really know. Ask me in a year. For now, I'm going to look into this Philosophy deal. Is it weird that I'm excited even though I'm about to make my life harder by most likely extending the amount of time I'm in college and taking harder classes? Probably, but that's ok.

1 Comments:

At 5/13/2005 07:42:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

lets talk about the Philosophy deal... One of my favorite authors is the Philosophy prophesor at USC. It is amazing how he has brought his faith and philosophy to blend, when the rest of the world says that can't be. And that he is the head of Philosophy at USC. It would be good to read some of his stuff and get a perspective... I too considered Philosophy espeically when I really began to read a lot of his books...

 

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