Je ne sais pas ca.

I became an English major because I knew that I wanted to be a writer. I figured that a college degree would better enable me to find a decent job while writing novels on the side and perhaps even getting published by a major, or minor, publication company. Looking back on my expectations I see that in many ways I was very naive. I remember an old saying, I forget who said it though, that if you want to be a write then write. I did not necessarily need a college degree to become a writer. My own personal epiphany came when I was asked a question by a skeptic of the whole college educational system. The skeptic asked "What did you learn in college that you could not have learned on your own?" I must admit that this question threw me for a loop. After all what did I learn in college that I could not have learned on my own? The answer was nothing - at least that is what I thought at the time. But as I dwelled on this question further I started to regret going to college and in the process apparently wasting a lot of money. This line of reasoning led to another epiphany. The real answer was not what I could not have learned on but what I would not have learned on my own. Being an English major has lead me to books, articles, essays, and blogs that I would most likely not have encountered on my own. For example, I probably would not have learned about several aspects of literary theory had I not take English 300. I would not have encountered the creative works of William Blake if I didn't take Professor Lansverk's English 342 class or learned to appreciate poetry had I not take English 372/English 428 from Professor Keeler or learned as much about professional writing/rhetoric if I had not taken English 450 from Professor Downs and English 326 from Professor Branch. And last but not least I would not have learned about blogging or even created this blog had it not been for this class. So needless to say I have had several epiphanies throughout my career as a English major at MSU and as I end my career here and perhaps head off to graduate school I know that I will have more epiphanies though perhaps not as many with such frequency as I had here and that is something that no skeptic can take from especially if they themselves never experienced the joys and hardships of the college experience. So to really answer my doubting skeptic the real answer is that I learned a lot from my professors and from their professional experience and what I personally learned from them is something that I could not have learned on my own. Throughout my time I have constantly been saying to myself "I didn't know that" and that in itself is a wonderful feeling.