Our English Syllabus

Several things in this note to the English Society at Oxford jumped out at me. First, Lewis writes that "You see at once that education is essentially for freemen and vocational training for slaves." (82) It made me think about the stages of my education more intensely. Sometimes I feel like a slave to my school work when I find myself sitting in my room for hours on end, which thankfully has not happened during interim. However, I think it is safe to say that most everyone else would agree with me that busy work is not very enjoyable at all. According to Lewis, I am not a slave, but I am free. But what exactly does that mean, and is it really a big deal? The answer is that it absolutely does matter, because the ability to explore many different subjects and find out what you enjoy. Without that ability you may end up spending your entire working life doing some unfulfilling task. He later solidifies that thinking by stating that "The proper question for a freshman is not 'What will do me most good?' but 'What do I most want to know?" (87) We need to make every effort and take advantage of every opportunity we get to find out what we are passionate about.

The next thing that stuck out to me when Lewis says that "A perfect study of English would involve all this...a perfect study of everything requires a knowledge of everything." (89-90) This passage seems to question the value of a liberal arts education. The whole idea of a liberal arts education is that a well rounded education as well as a focus on your chosen field better prepares you for your chosen career. But according to Lewis' statement, it is not worth it because he says we need to have knowledge about everything, which is impossible. One can spend their whole life as a student and still have countless questions to be answered. However, I think that this also acknowledges the need for a well rounded education because he says that a perfect study of a subject, in this case english, involves other subjects. None of us can deny that all things are interconnected.

The last thing that was interesting to me was when Lewis wrote that "Again, tihngs are understood by what precedes them rather than by what follows them." (91) I think that this is important for everyone to understand because so often when we are confronted with a difficult situation, we spend all of our time trying to figure out what the result will be. We need to not worry about that because that's in God's hands, not ours. All we can do, and should do, is learn from our mistakes in the past, improve on them, and try not to make them again. What I mean may be unclear, but I hope I got the general idea.