School feels right for the first time ever. Looking back at high school, CEGEP and my undergraduate degree, I struggle to remember a moment when I truly enjoyed school. Yes, I appreciated the social aspect that came of it, such as friends and parties, but sitting in class and completing homework was always a drag.
I don’t know exactly how it happened, but over the past 2 years though, I’ve changed. I know it because I feel it, oddly enough. I’ve become curious about the world and have started to question things.
While in China, I started an opinion journal. On the front page, I listed different topics that I felt I should develop an opinion on – one that I could defend with facts from research. The rest of the journal is filled with notes from the literature I’ve read. Some of these topics are:
- Capitalism – is it a good or bad system?
- Impact of AI in our future – helpful or destructive? This also leads to the question: can we solve environmental problems with technology?
- Canada’s C-16 bill – do I agree with it, or does it infringe on freedom of speech?
- How should we regulate immigration?
- Is the welfare system sustainable or is there a better way of doing it, like universal basic income or negative income tax?
- How should guns be regulated?
- Should Facebook, Twitter and other social media companies be allowed to delete someone’s post, or does that compromise freedom of speech? Where do you draw the line?
I’m so thankful that one of the other foreign teachers that was with me in China was also reflecting on these topics. To be honest, many of them are actually on my list because of him. He was always interesting to listen to because he had a much more conservative perspective compared to thoughts I had been used to hearing, coming from an environmental science background, which tends to the left on the political spectrum. His viewpoint was extremely well formulated too, which led to good debates, but also to some frustrating moments for me! Sometimes, he would come up with an argument that left me speechless, even though I knew I didn’t agree with it. So, I’d sleep on it, do some research, and get back to him on another day.
Although I’ve spent some time thinking about most of these topics briefly, I have yet to form a solid opinion on many of them. And over my last semester at school, the list has just gotten longer. Some of the questions that have been discussed in class are:
- Should teachers be giving their opinion in class?
- How do we get the population to decrease their use of plastic goods?
- How do I feel about the Trans-Mountain pipeline and the carbon tax?
I often feel overwhelmed by how much knowledge and information is out there to learn. It’s especially overwhelming because I need to catch up on everything I’ve missed during all my years of ignorance! Imagine all the knowledge I would have, if I cared enough to absorb everything I had learned in school previously!
This is why school is different this time. I realize how lucky I am to be sitting in class listening to people who are experts in their field, who have influenced government policies with their research, and who even get called up by media outlets for their comments on environmental decisions.
And although I study environmental resource management, it’s impossible to make resource management decisions without taking politics, economics, and social well-being into consideration. In-class discussions therefore integrate all those topics. My classmates come from a wide variety of backgrounds too, which creates for an interesting dynamic and exposes me to a variety of different perspectives. Of course, some have studied environmental science, but others have business, economics, or education degrees. Some of them have even worked in the oil and gas industry for several years! During this one class, each student had to share which aspect of “management” interested them. Responses ranged from park management and forest management, to waste management, to foreign investment management.
As many of you reading this probably already know, Halifax is definitely not my favourite city. Whenever I’m feeling down about my current location, I’ll just have to remind myself that for once, school feels right.
