Noam Chomsky at UVic?

You know all those famous people you learn about in your classes? Those that came up with *world-changing* theories that somehow are related to a number of different disciplines? Those whose name gets brought up at least once in every year of your education? Well, Noam Chomsky was one of those people for me.

I first learned about him in a socials studies class in high school when my teacher gave us one of his writings to read. To be honest, I don’t even really remember what it was about but just remember how it totally flew over my head. Not only was the reading hard to comprehend, I had little interest in the mystery topic.

However, over the years, I came across his name over and over again in my psychology courses. Noam Chomsky had a significant influence on many different disciplines from linguistics to psychology to philosophy. More specifically, he proposed the idea of a universal grammar that children were born with.

As someone who always had an interest in languages, I took more classes that focused on language development and child development. He quickly became one of those people I knew fairly well, like Carl Jung or Sigmund Freud.

Dr. Noam Chomsky!

This past semester, I had the opportunity to attend one of his lectures, held by UVic’s Department of Psychology for the Cognition and Brain Sciences Seminar Series! I had heard about these seminars ever since first year but never got the chance to attend one. I decided that I really wanted to attend one in my last semester and what perfect seminar to attend than Dr. Noam Chomsky’s!

Go tackle what you want to do!

Although much of the concepts he talked about (once again) flew over my head, there were parts that I was surprised to understand! Perhaps, my exposure and constant learning of these concepts did pay off in the end. Nevertheless, it was still a very surreal experience and one that I will remember as a highlight of my academic career in the future.

If there’s something you’ve been wanting to do for a while, make sure to jump at the chance! If you’re interested in other speakers, reach out to your professors or department – maybe there is something that can be set up such as inviting someone to an event!

I really want to emphasize that although it can be hard to see the learning you’ve done in university, sometimes, the pride of understanding what a lecturer is saying will give you the feeling of the effort being worth it.