Monday, May 26, 2014

Lauding Watson's commitment to education...

A momentary change of focus to this blog.

I just want to send out my personal congratulations to actress Emma Watson, who played Hermione Granger in the film versions of J.K.'s precious books, on the occasion of her graduating Brown University with a degree in English Literature.

I know, what's the big deal? Lots of people graduate from universities and many of them have earned more advanced, more difficult degrees than a BA in English Lit.

True. Very true.

But Emma Watson continued to pursue her education despite the fact that she is already set for life financially. I can't imagine, after eight Harry Potter movies and several other successful films since (including "The Perks of Being A Wallflower", in which I think Watson was fantastic), that Watson needed to earn a degree in order to make a living or improve her professional standing.

She could easily have skipped post-secondary education entirely and lived a very full and successful life.

So I can only imagine that she pursued her degree either simply because she understands the on-going value of education in her life, or because she recognised that the college experience itself is of real value to a person, or both.

Frankly, I think that's great. I also think it's great that she managed to earn her degree despite the extra, day-to-day, often intrusive scrutiny she was probably under while she attended Brown.

Harry Potter often acknowledged how difficult he found it to attend school as a person of fame. I'm sure Emma Watson discovered the same kinds of challenges at Brown (even if she didn't have an evil wizard plotting to kill her).

So I congratulate her on valuing education, on her commitment to pursuing that education, on her ability to focus on her studies despite the many distractions her fame likely threw her way and on recognising how much the experience of college can mean to her life.

Well done, Emma.

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