What is the value of my education? As a student of the humanities this question is always uncomfortable; furthermore, it is also a very frequent question -- as what I perceived as my future rapidly transforms into my present. It is an uncomfortable question because underlying it, is an assumed, specific notion of value -- of what is worth pursuing in life, and what is not.
Nevertheless, studying humanities has allowed me to approach texts and works whose existence I would not have known otherwise. The humanities have allowed me, within the constraints of my capabilities, to become a more responsible person. In this sense, I have learned how to listen and I have learned from others. That is, through the study of humanities, I have begun to develop a civic virtue par excellence, or as Aristotle termed it, prudence.
Some years ago, I would have considered such outcomes as useless or without value. If I had persevered in that opinion, I would have lost the opportunity to delve into the richness of the human condition. If today I were asked ‘what is the value of your education?’ I would answer differently. I would say that it has taught me how to understand myself as a person bound to other persons; that is, I’ve learnt to value and appreciate the plurality of what it means to be human.
With these observations, I am not mandating the study of the humanities. That is a private and personal decision. I want to express how they have enriched my life and made me more sensitive and aware in an unexpected way: they’ve helped me realized and value my difference or particularity among the differences and particularities of others.
I’m Alberto Fernandez and that’s my perspective.
