Knowing that most of the people reading this blog are teachers and administrators (who am I kidding: only teachers and administrators) I would like to take a moment to apologize. I know that in class I am usually the talker; I like dominating discussions, arguing with my peers and even with my teachers, and for that I am sorry. However, the USM administration may take solace in the fact that it has finally presented me a course that shuts me up. It’s true; Global Studies is unlike the other classes that I have taken in that I shockingly have no concrete opinion on any subject we have thus far discussed. There is a reason for this, and it is not that I have learned to share the airspace of a classroom.

I have always loved history class. I love looking at the tiny facets of bigger ideas, and understanding how the world we live in was shaped by moments and ideologies of the past. I thought Global Studies would be like my other history courses with the above focus. I was wrong. The difference here is that I am not a child of the revolution, the Civil War, the Great Depression, or of the Cold War. No, I have grown up in the age of Globalism. I am a product of the Internet, sushi bars, international corporations, and free market capitalism. So to take a class which forces me to look, not at the past to see how it has shaped the present, but to critically look to the present to see how it will make a future creates a different sensation entirely. More over, it leads me to question the very principles of the world I have grown to trust. That perhaps I should not question individual politicians but the system under which they work, not to criticize a selfish businessman but the type economy that allows him to prosper.

So how can I have any concrete opinions on subjects with such a wide birth? Capitalism: good or bad, how the hell should I know? To each legitimate idea there is a legitimate argument against it. In a class that approaches the world in such a holistic manner how can I know what is right, or what is wrong? Maybe the truth is that there are more than two sides to the issues, maybe there are hundreds of sides, each with their own distinctions and idiosyncrasies, ideologies and beliefs, pros and cons, and the black and white of this world is meant only for the newspapers.

It can be frightening to know that you may be facing questions that force inner reflection, that challenge the infrastructure of the world you know. Even in recent classes I have found myself clinging to my perceptions I see them being torn from my fingers. But I will say this. This may be the most interesting class I have ever had, and the single most important one any student can take. There is nothing wrong with changing ideas; it is the very definition of progress.