Utterly overwhelming

In the preface of his work "The Genealogy of Morals," Friedrich Nietzsche writes, "To be sure, one thing is necessary above all if one is to practice reading as an art . . . one thing that has been unlearned most thoroughly nowadays — and therefore it will be some time before my writings are 'readable' — something for which one has almost to be a cow and in any case not a 'modern man': rumination."

This quotation has much to tell us about our education in general. Now that midterm week is winding down, this lack of "rumination" seems especially apparent and pertinent. I have seen in others and experienced in myself a constant running from one thing to another: going to class, trying to study for a test, writing a paper, reading for precept. I haven't had a free moment, really, to truly think about anything that I'm doing. I feel, in a sense, like a student-machine.

I think that this frenetic state of study points to a weakness and a dilemma in the state of our educational system here at Princeton. We take four — sometimes five — classes. Each gives us a large amount of work to do. Each is taught by world-class professors and each offers an amazing opportunity to expand our minds and our knowledge. The dilemma — and perhaps it's a good one to have — is that to give every class the attention and effort it deserves requires that there be more than 24 hours in a day. How many times have you wished for just a few more hours to accomplish things?

Since, however, we are limited to only 24 hours, we are forced to make choices: focus on this class, but skip that lecture; do all of the reading for this class but let that other one almost completely slide. Even with these choices, we still feel overwhelmed with work much of the time.

Some have recommended that professors assign less reading. I am not advocating that (though I'm not advocating more work either by any means). I'm not sure that I have a solution to the quandary. Take only three classes? Go to school for five or six years? (I'm sure our parents would love that.) I don't know the answer. But I do know that when I try to do everything that I'm supposed to do I end up doing some of it shoddily. And I don't think this just applies to me.

I think that the problem of having to choose which amazing thing to study isn't necessarily the worst thing in the world. But I do think that when we choose to study something to the best of our abilities, we should do it. Wholeheartedly. And this includes this concept so important for Nietzsche: rumination.

Our classes are amazing. Whether in the humanities, sciences or engineering, we deal daily with wonderful ideas and are presented with opportunities for much creative and independent thought. But can this thought occur when we are running from the library to the classroom to the student center and trying to finish all of our work? According to Nietzsche, no. It takes idle time when we sit down with nothing to do, and we think, ponder, discuss, ruminate without the pressure of deadlines, grades or exams.

Does this mean that we should totally ignore all the work we have to do? No, definitely not. But I do think we should take some time to sit back, relax and reflect on the remarkable ideas with which our classes constantly present us. So if you see me sitting around doing nothing, you can thank Nietzsche. I'll be trying to act like the cow that Nietzsche gives us as an example of how to be reflective. That will be me, with a moo-moo here, a moo-moo there, here a moo, there a moo, everywhere a moo-moo. John Lurz is an English major from Lutherville, MD. He can be reached at johnlurz@princeton.edu.