schola means free time

just something that i want to share, got it from my history tutes..

My own experience is limited to universities. One of the saddest aspects of the lives of many students is that they always feel pressured. The irony is that those who have the luxury of spending time reading the great books of our culture and exploring the intricate beauty of creation find themselves always fighting deadlines. Students complain about the number of pages they have to read or write, and anxiously wonder how they will finish their many assignments on time. The word “school” which comes from “schola”(meaning: free time), reminds us that schools were originally meant to interrupt a busy existence and create some space to contemplate mysteries of life. Today they have become the area for a hectic race to accomplish as much as possible, and to acquire in a short period the necessary tools to survive the great battle of human life. Books written to be savored slowly are read hastily to fulfil a requirement, paintings made to be seen with a contemplative eye are taken in as part of a necessary art appreciation course, and music composed to be enjoyed at leisure is listened to in order to identify a period or style. Thus, colleges and universities meant to be places for quiet learning have become places of fierce competition , in which the rewards go to those who produce the most and the best."
-by Henri J.M. Nouwen


“I had no conventional architectural education. I worked under a few good architects ; I read a few good books – and that’s about it”
– Mies van der Rohe , a great great architect.

happy ramadan & mid semester break people!

p/s: mid semester break means tones of work to be done for the coming mid semester crit!