Liberal Arts=Freedom To Choose+x (Gods will)

I will not deny that two years ago when I sat down to look at colleges, Calvin was not my first choice. I was looking for a specific major, two actually, and specific minor, again two, and a college that would except someone as difficult as myself. The reason I chose Calvin was not because it was private, or Christian, or a good place to find a husband. I chose Calvin for it's Japanese department and the fact that I would be required to take a philosophy course. I am what you could call an academic.

The speech we read for class, which C.S. Lewis no doubt read for his English class, is one I wish had been read to me my first 8 am morning sitting in Calvin's English 101 a year ago. Though it has been stated many time (perhaps too many times) that Lewis is a genius with the English language, I will have to say that objectively, Lewis hit the nail on the head, and most likely scared many freshmen with just how "fish-out-of-water" they were supposed to feel.

The line,"The student is, or ought to be, a young man who is already beginning to follow learning for its own sake, and who attaches himself to an older student, not precisely to be taught, but to pick up what he can", is exactly true. The first time I had to have a one-on-one verbal final exam was the first time I realized just how much I wanted to be an English major. Talking my professor through 17th century literature and my thoughts on the subject opened to door to what I've now found to be an endless barrage of questions that should be answered.

Education for the sake of education is one of the best experiences you can have. Education for the sake of education led me, in high school, to the majors that I now love, and also has enriched my life. When I told my freshmen education adviser that I wanted to be in a music ensemble, even though my requirements said I didn't need to, he looked at me as if I had two heads. His reasoning for why I shouldn't be in an ensemble (and for why I shouldn't be a Japanese major) was simply, "You're a freshmen. You don't know what you want." Needless to say, I found a new advisor.

This brings up my other point (the first being I agree with Lewis).It's so easy to let other people take our "humanity" , as Lewis calls it, away. Monetary constraints, time constraints, all contribute to limiting what knowledge we are capable of getting. How many students we are able to latch on to. I say, don't let it. Libraries are great places for latching to take place. All you need is the drive to learn new things and the world becomes your classroom. And thus, you can create your own curriculum to go with it. When you are given the freedom to control your learning, you are given the freedom to find out what God has planned for you.