College: congratulations on arriving. It’s a significant milestone, recognizing not just your hard work but also the support from family who helped you reach this point.
It’s often said, “it takes a village to raise a child.” But today’s world presents unique challenges. From social issues to global conflicts, navigating to college requires resilience. So, yes, congratulations are truly in order.
Alt: Diverse group of college students walking and talking on a sunny campus, illustrating student life and campus environment.
You might believe you’ve “made it.” Surrounded by impressive buildings, esteemed faculty, and bright peers, you might think continuing past habits—hard work, good grades, teacher approval—guarantees a valuable education and future success.
Don’t be misled. True education in today’s world demands more. It’s not just about avoiding negative influences; it’s about actively challenging the very institutions you’re now part of, regardless of prestige. The best education is earned through effort, strength, and even challenging established norms.
My own college journey began with limited resources, but my father, despite lacking higher education himself, gave me crucial insight. One evening, discussing my future, I mentioned “pre-law”—a field I knew little about. My father, skeptical of lawyers, questioned my interest. When I mentioned financial prospects, he strongly advised me to study what genuinely interested me. He believed in pursuing passions over mere career paths, suggesting literature for my confessed interest, unless reincarnation offered multiple college opportunities. His point was clear: make the most of this unique chance to study what truly matters to you.
My father understood something fundamental often missed by students, educators, and parents: the real purpose of university education. Many today view it as a means to an end, primarily job prospects. Students seek credentials for career advancement, aiming for Wall Street or professional schools. This is understandable in a society valuing material success. Poverty is often equated with failure, bringing financial insecurity and lack of basic necessities. Student loans add pressure, making a “good job” a post-graduation imperative. The focus becomes the diploma, with classroom learning often secondary.
College life is frequently seen outside academics—parties, social events, sports, celebrity culture. The idea that coursework should be central is often dismissed. Students focus on future prospects, not present learning. If credentials ceased to exist, universities might lose a significant portion of their student body.
Faculty, too, can be perceived as detached. Their careers often prioritize scholarly work for tenure and promotion, work often inaccessible to undergraduates. This can create a public perception of professors as detached from teaching, creating an “easy” academic life.
Alt: Professor passionately lecturing to a class of attentive college students, highlighting the teaching aspect of university life.
However, ambitious professors work intensely. Scholarly work, even if obscure, demands significant effort. Research, reading, and dedication are essential. While the practical relevance to students or the public might be debated, the intellectual rigor is undeniable. The disconnect between faculty research and undergraduate learning is a complex issue within academia.
Students and professors sometimes have an unspoken agreement: minimal deep engagement in the classroom. Students produce abstract essays; professors grade based on abstract thinking abilities. Essays can be brilliant, or plagiarized; investment is often limited as “life is elsewhere.” Professors focus on professional advancement, students on social life, networking, and job prospects.
Administrators, seemingly driven by fear rather than student welfare, prioritize avoiding bad publicity, scandals, and lawsuits. Disciplining students, even for serious misconduct, becomes difficult due to legal concerns. Cheating is also prevalent, with a student ethos that exploits perceived professor laziness, using readily available online resources and fraternity files.
Public concern about these issues surfaces periodically, but fades quickly. Professors might overlook cheating to avoid conflict, sometimes facing external pressures. Universities often prioritize “well-rounded” students who conform, maintain a light approach, and contribute to the university’s ranking and future donations. These students excel at superficial engagement, aiming for credentials and smooth progression.
In a culture prioritizing monetary values, this focus on superficial success is almost expected. The concept that university education should be transformative, focused on personal growth (“Soul-making”), is often downplayed. Richard Brodhead, former Yale and Duke president, suggested that the value of college lies not in course content recall, but in developing resilience and problem-solving skills. While these skills are valuable, is course content truly irrelevant?
This perspective suggests minimizing challenging, perspective-altering teaching to avoid “trouble.” However, true education involves questioning, debate, and even discomfort. My department chair once suggested my “intense” teaching style might invite incidents, hinting at a preference for less engaging, less potentially controversial pedagogy.
So, if you seek real education, the system may not readily provide it. Professors are often focused on research, students on career paths, and administrators on maintaining institutional stability. The focus can be on entertainment and facilities rather than deep learning. Universities might prioritize alumni prosperity to benefit the institution itself.
Why challenge this? Why not conform and coast? Because true fulfillment, a life lived authentically, requires more. A liberal arts education is not a luxury but a necessity. Without it, you risk a life of quiet or loud desperation, living someone else’s version of success.
By college age, you’ve absorbed countless opinions about who you are. Family, teachers, and community leaders have shaped your self-perception and values. Religious texts and traditions have provided moral frameworks. You’ve been assessed and categorized – athletic potential, academic scores, personality types. You are, in a sense, a product of these influences.
However, this isn’t entirely negative. Major religions contain profound wisdom, even for non-believers. Common sense, accumulated societal wisdom, also holds value. Respecting these influences is important, but not blindly revering them.
You might align perfectly with these pre-defined paths, fulfilling expectations. But, Emerson suggested, your true potential might be unique and unexplored. You might not be who others, or even you yourself, perceive you to be. College is the place to discover this. Reading great thinkers like Blake, Dickinson, Freud, and Dickens isn’t about sophistication, but self-discovery. They might reveal aspects of yourself you haven’t recognized. Great writers can articulate your own suppressed thoughts and feelings, offering profound self-knowledge.
This was my experience with Freud and Emerson. Emerson taught me self-reliance, trusting my own thoughts even when dissenting. Freud challenged conventional ideals, prompting critical examination of values.
Alt: Two college students engrossed in reading books in a university library, showcasing academic pursuit and literary exploration.
Engage with these writers actively, discerning their truths and limitations. Develop their ideas, recognizing their intellectual lineage. Seek influence from reading, to be challenged and redirected towards a better path.
My father, dissatisfied and feeling misaligned with life, lacked the opportunity for self-discovery and revision. He wanted me to have that chance, even if it meant diverging from his own path.
To gain a real education, be proactive. Professors will provide texts and analysis, but may not push you to examine their life-changing truths. You must question the relevance and applicability of ideas. Ask yourself if Plato’s philosophy resonates with your life. Challenge historical narratives, biological theories, and statistical interpretations.
Every subject is a language; explore its capabilities and limitations. Examine the metaphors each discipline offers. This process can be daunting. Discovering your passion might disrupt pre-med plans for elementary education.
You might realize your chosen path is wrong. You could still pursue it, but society offers distractions—alcohol, entertainment, consumerism—to compensate for unfulfilling work. But these come at a cost.
True education helps you find work that feels like play, work that energizes you. Randall Jarrell’s desire to pay to teach poetry exemplifies this. Finding this fulfilling path can lead to unexpected success. The teacher who chooses passion over prestige might face initial financial struggles, but their dedication and talent can lead to recognition and impact.
Pursuing your own dreams, not others’, leads to fulfillment and sustained energy. Living authentically, doing work aligned with your passions, is true success. So, What Are You Doing in college to find this path? Are you passively accepting a pre-packaged education, or are you actively seeking knowledge and self-discovery to shape your own meaningful life?
