“Jack of all trades, master of none.”

Originally, this phrase omitted those last three words, and it was considered a compliment to be described as a “jack of all trades”.

Then some cynic, consumed with envy, decided to add on those last three words. Today if you call someone a jack of all trades, you’re implying some sort of weakness in them.

Personally, I don’t understand why the phrase has come to be seen negatively though. Is it so terrible to be moderately good at everything? Is it that bad to have such a wide range of competancy? Is it a death sentence not to be incredible at any single thing?

I’m not saying that specializing in a particular field is a bad thing – in fact, I think it’s great. But being a generalist is equally great in my opinion.

The reason I’m saying this is that it’s that time to select courses once again. This year is a little bit different than previous years though. In previous years, if I saw a course that was interesting but didn’t fit my schedule, I could shrug and say “Oh well. Next year.”

But this time there is no next year. It’s my fourth and final year of undergrad, and any classes I don’t take now will pass into the Eternal Well of Missed Opportunities.

It’s a shame because there’s so much more that I want to learn. If time was infinite, I would start by devouring introductory courses by the truckload. Introductory biology, chemistry,(not physics – I’m not crazy) sociology, ecology, anthropology, astronomy, geology, geography, classics, latin, linguistics, pharmacology, even.

Within these fields, there are so many interesting courses I’d love to take if I could. Courses on the development of human languages. Courses on how sex was viewed in ancient Rome. Courses on how various species have adapted or disappeared over time.

There’s a course on the psychology of aging. There’s a 1960s music course. There’s a course specifically on the concept of religious pilgrimages, and one on the sacred texts which are so vital to each religion. One on the history of sexual health. One about dreams, and how society views them. One on how new drugs are discovered.

And then there’s the languages. If I had time I’d learn every single one offered by the university. From the widely spoken ones like Mandarin, Russian, German, Portuguese, and Arabic, to less prominent ones like Czech, Finnish, Estonian, and Swahili, to the seriously obscure, like Gaelic and Welsh. If I could, I’d learn a little bit of all of them. The fact that I’m going to have to leave so many beautiful languages unexplored is probably the saddest thing for me.

I’ve been a student all my life. Learning is the only thing I’ve ever done thus far. Despite this, there are still a lot of subject areas that I know nothing about. When I ask people questions about what they’re studying, it’s not to make polite conversation. It’s because I’m genuinely interested in the subject matter, and want to learn more about it in order to expand my own realm of knowledge. Surely there’s nothing wrong with that.

Whether you fancy yourself a jack of all trades or a master of one, the pursuit of knowledge is never something to be viewed negatively.