Two separate and only tangentially related events recently brought to my attention the fact that apparently I speak and think in a predominantly “academic” cadence and style.

Recently, in a fit of desperation to find people I could converse about the incessant maelstrom of thoughts which inhabit my skull, I created a flier for a philosophy reading group. Luckily enough, four eager participants showed up to the first meeting, and hopefully soon enough we will be on our way to weekly discussions of a near anarchically chosen set of reading material.

What struck me in this situation was how giddy two of the members got over the idea of having “homework.” This was the specific word used to describe our first set of defined reading. Even though this reading group is essentially unstructured, the immediate association with the kind of material we are delving into is that of academia.

Then, in just the last few days, I was conversing with a friend with whom I had not spoken to in many months. She commented on how I remind her of another friend of hers in some ways, as we both speak as though we are still in college. We both consider everyday situations through a thoroughly “academic” lens.

After some postulation, I have to say, I think I may very well be offended by this very idea. Why must my speech patterns and desire to research be immediately associated with being in an educational institution. At what point can we even say how much of what I do is directly related to being in academia? Those who attended college with me would recall a very lazy and shiftless individual, often doing the bare minimum to get by. Why then, when I actually give a damn about something enough to research it, to be invested in desiring knowledge of it, and to be able to speak eloquently and intelligently about it, why must it be associated with academia?

I bemoan a society in which the very idea of critical thinking just being something someone might do just because they care to is considered out of the ordinary and must be somehow tied to education. Certainly, to learn is to be educated, but not all education is gleaned from academia, and not all knowledge is able to be conveyed in books.

So, to the idea that I seem as though I consider myself to be an academic, I say this:

BALDERDASH.