From punk to philosopher

 “I thought that I was actively rebelling by dying my hair blue and cutting it into a Mohawk,” Assistant Professor of Philosophy Jason Howard told Lumen. “I was always being rebellious in my adolescent and adult years. I was angry and skeptical about all institutions.”

Howard’s friends and mom didn’t give the type of reaction Howard thought they would to his Mohawk. “My mom laughed at me, she thought I looked like a clown; all my friends laughed at me too,” Howard said.

Howard now in his sixth year as an associate professor of philosophy can be found with his natural hair color wearing dress pants.

“Growing up my family had no expectations of me,” he said. “I was always in trouble, not with the law, but with my family or school. I would drink a lot and go to parties often.

 “I took off from Windsor, Canada to Vancouver for the summer and I was told that if I did that, I would get kicked out of the house,” Howard said.

This didn’t stop Howard; he moved to Vancouver to live with some friends and continued to party a lot.

When he returned to Windsor he was kicked out. He had no job and no place to live and he dropped out of school. He was living off of Canada’s welfare system. Howard, a Canadian citizen, was able to get money from the government.

During this time Howard had an epiphany, “I ended up reading Nietzsche living in Windsor, and I decided to go back to school,” Howard said.

 “Nietzsche motivated me to get organized and stop feeling sorry for myself,” Howard said. “He helped me realize that my past doesn’t determine who I am. That my choices do and I have the power to determine my own choices.”

After finishing high school, Howard attended Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. “I went to study English. But I needed to get B/Cs at the least to stay in the program, but ended up only getting Cs,” he said. 

 “I was talking to my adviser, who told me that all the questions I ask in class are philosophical so he told me that I should major in philosophy,” he said.

Howard took the advice of his adviser and double majored in philosophy and classical studies (Greek and Roman history), graduating in 1993. “Once I decided to major in philosophy, I knew I was going to get my doctorate in it; I even told my parents and friends that I was going to get my doctorate,” Howard said.

Howard still had little encouragement from his family and friends. “No one in my family had a university education nor could anyone see the value in something like philosophy, eh” he said in his Canadian accent. “My mum was a cashier at grocery stores and my father was a steam fitter.

“The partying got pointless and tedious,” Howard said. “I realized I couldn’t commit fully to philosophy and be successful while going to raves, bars and house parties.”