In “Grad School or…?” I explored some of the pros and cons of deciding to enroll in graduate school from a somewhat micro level. To be honest, I wrote most of it coming from a very negative place and feel I may have leaned to far to the “not worth it” side. Today, I want to dive into some of the benefits of advancing your education on a more macro level, specifically, how grad school shaped my worldview.
To set the stage — a bit of my intellectual background. Around 14 I read Machiavelli “The Prince,” (you know, the book that is basically a Renaissance era how to manual on authoritarianism, “tis far better to be feared than loved”) From their I got into ancient Greek philosophy, and moved on to mid-century stuff from Wittgenstein and Existentialism. I was also heavily involved in politics, as in, volunteering for political campaigns before I was old enough to vote.
I’m not mentioned this to make myself sound more peculiar than I probably already do, but rather to make a larger point regarding the context around which I was digesting the information I was learning. There was no context.I got into this stuff on my own, my parents didn’t get it (“why are you reading that? it’s boring” -my mom), and it certainly wasn’t being taught in school (too busy preparing for standardized tests?). So I consumed the information I was interested in with my worldview, that of teenager living in a middle class neighborhood in Orlando, Florida.
It’s pretty obvious how limited this worldview was, of course you can learn new things and enjoy the information, but it wasn’t until Grad school that I suddenly had an intense and newfound understanding of the world around me. From day one (not hyperbole, actually on the first day of grad school, my fellow cohort can attest), we went through an overview of global economies (probably looked at 20 in total), their histories and major economic philosophies from the past three centuries. Both extremely intimidating but also extremely exciting, not only were we going to spend the next 10 weeks studying philosophy of economics, but also looking at specific countries from both a historical and modern standpoint, in other words, we were learning both the idea and the context to situate the idea in.
Another class that stands out within the theme of shaping my worldview was the most difficult class of my academic career — Cultures and Inequalities. Surface level, I expected this to be an overview of various global cultures and looking at the inequalities that exist on a global scale due to imperialism. Instead, this class unhinged not only the WHY but also the HOW. How did certain groups of people become alienated and how does that affect their reality? I mentioned this class was the most difficult, this required us to read very high level academic books in their entirety over the course of one week (typically 200–500 pages) and compose a thoughtful reaction paper which we’d be required to discuss with the class. This class was also difficult because of the topics we covered.
Two topics stand out the most to me, and highlight issues I never would have though about had I not had to so rigorously study them.
Labor Disorders in Neoliberal Italy — This work studied the phenomenon of “mobbing” in Italian workplace as a reaction against the struggling economic situation coupled with the very pro-labor laws seen in Italy. Essentially, it explores a meticulous form of workplace harassment in which workers who are not desired are made so uncomfortable in tiny ways that they leave.
and
The Modernity Bluff- which explores the economics of poverty in Côte D’Ivoire. This piece looks at populations in extreme poverty’s desire to appear more “Westernized” through the acquisition of things — cell phones, Adidas clothing, etc., despite their destitute living conditions.
These two classes, and the rest of my courses, changed the way I think, the way I act, the way I am — in terms of how I engage with the world. Because grad school, I was given a context with which to understand things on a global level, and that is immeasurably worth every penny, and every day spent studying.
This is, without a doubt, the main benefit and should be seen as the biggest “reason why” to study for a Master’s or Doctorate. In many cases, career advancement can happen naturally over time with experience and relationships, (I am specifically writing from a view point a more liberal arts scholar, of course further study is required for those in business, law, medicine, etc.). However, I struggle to connect with the person I was prior to grad school because I was relentless in my pursuit of answers, but I wasn’t always asking the right questions. Graduate school helped frame and define my perception of the world, and has empowered me to critically engage with the events around me.