The life of this world

This is a column I always expected to write, if only to justify to baffled and exasperated family and friends my choice to skip out on the upcoming graduation festivities. The pomp and circumstance of this silly day never really took with me. Still, I keep having to pinch myself, that I am now on the cusp of the daunting “real world.”\nOne tries to avoid sentimentality on these occasions. The initial reason I have chosen to forego donning the cap and gown is that I am not particularly proud of my mediocre academic record, let alone of the time I have so pleasurably wasted here. But I’d be doing myself – a cause for which I never fail to speak up – a disservice if another reason didn’t follow, and here I dare to run the risk of sentimentality. I’ve never wanted to be the guy who gives pride of place to his diploma, which itself speaks to no grand aspiration and noble purpose. I suspect that those who place a strong emphasis on learning outside the classroom will know what I’m talking about.\nFor as long as I can remember, I’ve tried to live according to Mark Twain’s injunction never to let schooling get in the way of your education. Despite the students who can readily be found claiming that the only thing that spoils the “college experience” are the classes, this distinction is not without a difference. I have discovered that cutting class to pursue autonomous study has usually provided me greater intellectual tonics than actually attending class ever has.\nMy belief in the unimportance of formal education is part instinctive and part acquired. I snubbed the subjects that never held my interest, which may account for the poor marks I’ve earned of late, pulling my overall average down, perhaps, below the norm. But that isn’t to say I have been a lazy student – only a selective one. They don’t teach you this in school, but once this rationale takes hold, it isn’t really an option to cast aside what must be one’s most challenging teacher: yourself.\nI was also reinforced in this view by the example of the greatest British prime minister. It is tolerably well known that Winston Churchill, like Albert Einstein, was only an average student. One of his tutors even observed, “That lad couldn’t have gone through Harrow (boarding school). He must have gone under it.” I’ve always thought that’s a good counsel for people who think credentials are everything. \nSo as I grit my teeth and wait for the moment to unseal the University letter inviting me to graduation ceremonies, I feel rather like the pompous German shipowner before World War I who had as his motto, “My Field Is the World.” After a not-completely misspent four years at IU, I’d like to think the world is my field too. That attitude toward life might be rife with risks, but if I had to adopt any other, I’d rather not live at all.