One of the many points Mill makes in the third chapter of this piece is that spontaneity is undervalued, and a key part of our existence.
Mill would have been happy to hear about the small act of spontaneity carried out by myself and the other ten students in my 3:05 Modern Condition Class.
After days and days of rain, wind, cold, and just downright disgusting weather, Thursday turned out to be beautiful! It was warm, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, and all around it was a day that did not deserve to be ruined by an indoor class.
Luckily my classmates agreed with me.
Our Modern Condition class looks out onto the main "quad" at Adelphi, which is really just a big open grass area. We decided that if we asked to have class outside there was a pretty good chance of getting the answer we weren't looking for. However, if we were already outside when our professor, who is always late, arrived, how could he say no?
I suggested we bring our chairs with us, it would be more convincing that way. By the time we got everyone to actually agree to go outside, however, we were running out of time. So we just all walked outside and placed ourself beneath the window to our class, to be sure when Costello walked in he would see, first and empty classroom, and then his students, ready for class, outside.
And that is exactly what happened.
Costello called out the open window at us "you guys are so cute, really, very adorable, very creative. You've been reading too much Mill..."
"...Come back inside."
And that is the story of how eleven Honors College Freshman walked back into the Honors College, past the Dean's offices (who knew of our activities), past the lounge where many upper classman hang out, and back into our classroom (laughing hysterically), and had a very successful discussion on Mill...
inside.
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