Extra Post- Up and Down

I find myself really having a wavering opinion about The Education of Henry Adams. On the one hand, it is really interesting to learn about the more political and foreign policy areas of the Civil War. Also, Adams' opinion on education and religion do very get interesting, when he talks about them. Its hard not to fall into a mode of skimming the text when he literally just lists name, after name, after name; it seems more of a biography of their stories than his. He then makes a minute connection about these other charachters and their vain effect on his progress in education, which is none. I get a bit frustrated at the end of each chapter when essentially, Adams says 'I learned nothing. And my education has not begun.' YES IT HAS. You are in your twenties (up to the page I've read at least) and have learned to walk, read, and write (at least). You have also learned how to, even though you are a grown man, pout and throw away opportunities to learn abroad and be of no use as a 'deputy secretary' to your father.

I know I sound a bit harsh now, but here I will begin to credit Adams. Though they are little in context of the superfluous details Adams provides, the stipulations and requirements for what Adams would call a "real education" are quite interesting. Though he sounds bitter the whole book (which is probably my influence for sounding bitter this whole post) Adams ironically discovers that "the more he is educated, the less he understood" pg. 34 and argues that a real education is not in school. Though his detail tedious, Adams argues that real education is more in the form of memories and moral judgments than anything else; which is interesting to think about in the context of my own education.