Columbia and the Core Outside of Class

Man looking at a Rothko painting at the San Francisco MoMA. Photo Credit: Kristian Woerner.

Reflecting back on four years of Columbia and the Core, I find myself contemplating not which classes were my favorite, but which classes I will take with me for the rest of my life. Similarly, I recently discussed with a professor if I had taken any classes in my time at Columbia that “changed my life,” which I interpret as “changed the way I experience the world.”

One such class was Art Humanities. Formally known as Masterpieces of Western Art and Architecture, this class taught me some basics of art history and how to talk about art. While the class focuses on a small subset of art, the skills it teaches can be extended to a more diverse range of material. Really, what I took away from the class was how to approach a work of art and how to articulate what I see in it.

Now, whenever I go to a museum or encounter art in my surroundings, I have the tools to create my own understanding of it. Sometimes there is a right and wrong way to interpret art, but often there is not. Being able to understand the art in museums obviously enhances that experience for me, but so does being able to recognize and appreciate art in my everyday life — not just in settings where it is explicitly on display.

Similarly, a class I took called Making of the Modern American Landscape had a huge impact on my worldview. The class was focused around a chronology of the built environment in America — which styles of buildings and infrastructure were built when, and why. Just a few days into the class I found myself walking around New York City with fresh eyes — noticing things I had never noticed before and appreciating my surroundings in a new way. Then, when I studied abroad in Budapest I took this perspective with me and, I feel, had a more meaningful experience of the city than if I hadn’t taken this class.

Learning and developing the skills to interact with the world in an informed way is one of the most important skills one can learn in college. In a class I am currently taking, Equity and Access in American Higher Education, we spend a lot of time talking about what purpose college serves. I believe that the purpose of Columbia’s Core is not necessarily to impart scholarly information onto us students, but to teach us how to be citizens of our world. Truth be told, I will likely not remember every famous line from the Iliad in ten years or the exact rules of general relativity. What I will remember is how I approached these texts and questions, and those are skills that I can and will use for the rest of my life.

This entry was posted in New York City, postgraduation plans, The Core. Bookmark the permalink.