Musings of a College Freshman
Go to college. That’s what the world tells young people these days; at least those who live in countries where college is readily available. So, that’s what we plan to do. We make it through twelve to fourteen years of school*—or at least, some of us do, for many drop out of that system, and I don’t blame them. We earn our credits, we do senior projects and portfolios and whatever else is required of high school students these days, we make the grade, we write papers, we do extracurricular activities so that we look like a well rounded person, we take the SAT, we try to pick out what we want to do with our lives, we write scholarship essays and fill out applications, we fill out the FAFSA, we pull our hair when we learn how much aid we’re actually getting vs. the cost of going to school, we cry at graduation, and we show up on campus sometimes unsure if we’re going there because we truly want to or because we have been told that we must. How many students drag themselves to school and pay to take classes that they hate in order to get a little piece of paper so that they may get a job? Why are we here? What on earth are we learning anyway, and what for?
College is not about becoming a smart, educated person. In this day and age, college graduates are not always the brightest crayons in the box. College is a ten-week** marathon which you must run three or four times a year for two to four years (at least). College is not about completing the reading, getting a thorough understanding of the subject you are studying, or being able to discuss the subject with wisdom and understanding. College is about identifying objectives which you must complete (the essay, the group project, the midterm, the term paper, and the final exam) and completing them on time in the manner specified by your teacher. College is about learning to cope with the annoying characters in your class (History-Channel-Girl, Irrelevant-Comment-Boy, Obnoxious-Interruption Girl, Chitter-In-The-Back-Of-The-Class-Girl & friends, I-Still-Act-Like-A-High-School-Student-Boy and I-Never-Do-The-Assignment-Boy), learning to deal with unpleasant teachers, and learning to stay awake during the dullest class of your day. College is about making lists of deadlines and calibrating your day planner accordingly. College is about calculating how many points you need on assignment A + paper B to earn the final grade C. College is about multiplying all of these objectives by X amount of classes and learning to balance the workload. The workload? Oh. College is about work.
It seems to me that what I am really learning in college is this: How do I take these objectives given to me and complete them in the amount of time given to me and in a manner which will satisfy my boss? Now, I know that this view is extremely cynical. I have learned a lot in my first term of college, and I have no doubt that my teachers are excellent teachers who truly do want to impart knowledge and a love of learning to their students. However, college is not the only place where you can become educated. Going to school is not the only method of becoming educated—and few would take that college-only position. But what has happened? Why do we have to go to college to be deemed educated? To be deemed qualified?
I take issue with the institutionalization of education. I will concede that it is important for everyone to be educated, and I will also concede that there is basic knowledge which everyone should learn. Yes, I know: this comes from the home school girl, and what else would you expect me to say? I concede that home schooling is not possible for every family, nor is it ideal for every student, and nor is it an easily feasible concept for higher education. I am not advocating anything. I am simply being critical of “the system”. I loathe the idea of taking something as broad as education and saying: this is what it looks like. Complete A, B, and C, and you will earn D, where D equals diploma, or a degree. Answer these twenty-five questions correctly on your midterm, and you have successfully learned the first half of this course. This does not seem the way things should be.
What can you learn outside of the system, and how much? What can you learn without a certified teacher? What can you learn with no teacher but yourself? What can you learn with a good book, a blank journal filled with paper that is a pleasure to write upon and a pen that is a delight to write with? What can you learn by keeping a blog? What can you learn by picking up a copy of Plato’s works and reading them entirely on your own? Or by watching a Shakespeare play—which, indeed, was meant to be watched, and not read? What can you learn through trial and error, or by mere people watching? What can you learn? What subjects can you study? Not everything, but many things. Not every subject, but many subjects. Reading, writing, and arithmetic, I concede, are skills that require some manner of teacher, at least initially. But of the plethora of other subjects listed in the college catalog, how many of those could you learn on your own? A great many, I say. Unfortunately, you would get no credit whatsoever. And that is my problem with institutionalized education. That is my problem with college.
That, and term papers.
See you when I’m done completing 35% of my grade.
* Preschool + Kindergarten + Twelve grades = Fourteen years of school
** If the school uses a quarter system, which mine does
