Thursday, March 5, 2009

I'm glad I didn't stay 18 forever.

To me there are many places in our world that aspire to our generation’s idea of hip, cool, and the current moment. We live in that place everyday, literally. I am talking about college. I know college is a very general place in the world, but that truly is the “it” place for our generation. Many of us are convinced by the age of fourteen that we will be going to college when we graduate from high school to pursue our life’s work, to culminate our ambitions. Not only is it hip and cool to be in college now, but it is also responsible. Never before has the idea of cool coincided with the idea of responsible. To me this is very significant because it emphasizes the importance our society places upon education.

People can go to college for very different reasons in our society. For one they can go there in order to do what they are supposed to do by furthering their education and ultimately bettering their lives. This is what everyone wants us to do. We are offered scholarships to experience the magnificence of college in order to continue our country’s wealth and dominance. However, they can also go there to experience the “it” that our generation places on college. The negative side to the “it” factor that we place on college is that it conspires to represent the cool, partying side of college. Not that there is anything wrong with a good time, but it is when we begin to excessively indulge in the partying lifestyle that college has to offer that we suffer completely.

So what is college? College is life. It’s our beginning. The introduction of our experience to our world. We are here to figure out how to be adults. It is with this beginning of freedom that we can see whether or not we’re truly ready to become independent, functioning members of society. It is also friends, late nights, parties, fun times, lessons, experiences, differences, and every other thing we could wish to learn. You truly develop your personality at college, the greatest experience our society has to offer. I am truly thankful for the emphasis our society places on education because without it I’d probably be stuck in Lonoke farming.

5 comments:

  1. I agree, if you don't go to college, you are a failure, but honestly at least for me this place is just going through the motions... I doubt that I will not completely do something different when I graduate from here.

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  2. At what point does it stop being cool to grow up?

    Also, you seem to be very concerned about responsibility. What is the relationship of cool to responsibility? Can you really be cool if you are responsible?

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  3. It never stops being cool to grow up. Adults that still act like children are pathetic. The relationship is that I value independence. In order for you to be cool in my eyes you have to be able to take care of yourself. Yes, responsible people are cool because they care.

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  4. What about apathetic cool? I have to admit, that something inside me envies people who are free to go where ever, when ever and are not restricted in any way (a.k.a. having to go to class or to work). You know, vagabonds, hippies--that sort. While I do not think I would make the cut living that way, I do sometimes envy their freedom.

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  5. Sure, you may envy their freedom, but ultimately they will envy your success. Success to me is fulfillment. By succeeding I accomplish what many others will not, and it makes being responsible and committed worth the time that I invested.

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