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By Ginger Ketting-Weller

Focus on Scholarship

“Scholarship” is an interesting word. It comes from the Latin word for school, (“schola”), which includes the following meanings: “intermission of work, leisure for learning; learned conversation, debate; lecture; meeting place for teachers and students, place of instruction; disciples of a teacher, body of followers, sect.” (https://www.etymonline.com/word/school)

Most of those meanings are familiar. But the words

“intermission” and “leisure” in that list may surprise you. Scholarship is hard work! How could the meanings include taking a break between one mission and another (inter-mission), and having free (leisure) time?

From the perspective of the adult learner, scholarship actually does provide an intermission. In a sense, we take a break from our usual activities—even from our families or friends—when we enter the classroom and immerse ourselves in the culture of learning. We have to put effort into our education, but we can also relax; it is our professors who now set the goals for us, who select the resources, and who guide us in the path of discovery. Even with student-centered teaching styles, the professor is there to guide and to help us get untangled if we are stuck. That doesn’t always happen in “real” life.

It’s not just that many AIIAS scholars get to see new places in this world, and experience sights, sounds, tastes, and textures that they didn’t grow up with. All of these are good, but what I hear in the comments of former students, staff, and faculty is that sense of protected time—time to come away and devote oneself to the tasks of scholarship, to interact with fellow scholars in a setting where learning and research are valued, and to take the time to seek truth.

Scholarship provides us with an intermission and even a little leisure in a world that is anxious to heap upon us heavy responsibilities, impossible problems, and complex worries. Sure, there are a few of those here at AIIAS. But overall, we seem to enjoy a little sanctuary, as well.

Ginger Ketting-Weller, PhD, is the president of AIIAS.

I have experienced this opportunity of taking a break in order to do scholarship. In my graduate studies, I loved leaving my worries and work responsibilities in the early afternoon, and driving 30 minutes to my graduate school where I relaxed into the task of receiving an education, following where my professors led, and searching out more knowledge for myself. Scholarship offers an escape from the pressures of the work world as we devote ourselves to seeking new insights, ideas, and inspirations. It provides protected time to think and to understand— something that most people in this world cannot do, because they are busy just trying to survive. Scholarship is a privilege and a precious gift.

Perhaps that’s why, when I talk with AIIAS alumni, they express such nostalgia for the years they’ve spent in scholarship at AIIAS. It’s not just the multicultural environment. It’s not just the beauty of the campus. It’s not just the provision of enriched spiritual programming every week or in the worships at the beginning of class.