Blog #161; Academic Critical Thinking and My Personal Culture Shift in Higher Education

 I noticed something in my thinking processes when I started graduate school, all those many years ago: I had a cultural shift in the way I saw the world.  My worldview expanded, and I became much more sensitive to the culture of the different time periods I studied.  Even in my undergrad, with the Age of Dryden and Pope, I adjusted to the rather wry humor and sarcastic wordplay of people like Swift, Dryden and Pope.  There are many majors I could have chosen, and many graduate schools I could have attended, but I think literature (American and European) was the perfect suit for me.  As I advanced in grad school, I became much more analytical in my approach to text and studies around various cultures, including my own American culture of the modern day.

Nowadays, I can appreciate something like The Great Courses and continue to educate myself, not only in literature, but European and American history, Central American culture, which I experienced first-hand right after grad school.  The great courses encompass psychology, neurology, space flight and exploration.  It is well worth the fee we pay to have access to such a treasure trove of knowledge.