Well duh.
We're here, educating ourselves, aren't we? We wedge into little classrooms, scribble illegible notes, pour through mounds of books until our skulls vibrate. And we eat school food, right? Like zombies we line up for fast food-like fare or stare into rows upon endless rows of indifferent vending machines. Sugars, salts and carbs - oh my! Don't forget that most magical of educational moments: pounding coffee and pulling an all-nighter just to pass that nightmare trig test. (Yeah, cosines are completely useful.)
But these are the trappings of the modern student life. We accept them; we champion them. And for what? So that one day we'll graduate and earn that elusive respect from our peers while shucking fries at the local burgery.
What's not to advocate for?
Here's the secret: "student life" and "education" shake hands, but they rarely agree. Far more likely they're as disconnected from each other as reality from Reality TV. Far more likely we'll stomach the one for the promise - however bogus - of the other.
Look, I'm not here to preach about the "value" of education; you've got parents enough in your lives. But I will tell you that mom is right: it's harder to go back. I know because I took off. I left school (got thrown out, actually, with a flaming D average) 15 years ago. That kind of break gives a guy a lot of time for reflection - hard reflection. It also builds, brick by raw brick, the foundation for a new perspective, one I'm pushing for today.
I don't regret leaving school when I did; I regret not paying enough attention to understand what my choice meant.
Quick caveat: maybe you're just here for the degree. That's cool; no shame. Gone are the days when a strong back and the well-trained hand could bring home enough bacon to feed the family, much less yourself. Today's society demands database processors and systems analysts and JAVA developers. (At least Yahoo! Answers says so.) What good are agrarian skills and a sure hammer when you've got Web pages to build?
Of course there's more than IT jobs in demand, far more. But the problem remains: What's a guy - woman or man - to do when companies outsource everything but custodial jobs to Guam? Only so many toilets you can swab. (I know. I've swabbed them.)
The answer, obviously, is school - hence the generous helpings of carbs, classrooms and coffee.
But are we actually learning anything in the process? Is there nothing more for us here than grades and graduation?
Enough with the questions! My job here is to suggest answers.
Let's start by putting the way-back machine on six or seven hundred years ago. Life for the average bloke was a bit more banal then, his choices slightly more restrictive. (Women - you don't even want to know what your options were.) Basically, unless you were of royal blood, you could milk cows for the king or die cruelly while pushing God on otherwise peaceful cultures. Maybe, if you were skilled, maybe you could make horseshoes or bake bread or something. Not your brightest prospects, obviously.
Enter the "liberal arts." Liberal, from the Latin, liberalis, meaning those crazy medievalists found a way to chuck their mops and walk away from their anvils. Say goodbye, bread. Time to escape the drudgery of the servile life by securing a liberal education. Okay, that's a cheap and admittedly myopic rewriting of history. Not everybody enjoyed the same levels of access; today, in America, right here on this campus, the keys to the kingdom are as available as you are willing to grab them. The promise, the liberation, remains. The bogosity of any education, then, lays infinitely more with the educatee, not the educator.
So stick with this.
More importantly, make something of your time here. Befriend a prof and ask for the world. (They just may give it to you.) Join a student club - or create one yourself! - and participate until you're limp. Run naked through the Tivoli or organize for marsupial rights or jump into geosynchronous orbit - whatever. Pour your love into what you do and into how you do it. Above all learn, don't earn. Grades are nice, but their luster fades in the failing light of post-graduation blues. Put value into your education and your GPA will follow. Finally, realize there's plenty of time for tedium after college. The opportunity to manage your schooling (and ultimately, your life) knocks now.
Answer the door or get used to wearing that apron. Fry cooks are in high demand.
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