I thought it would be better
i've become so cynical concerning my classmates, colleagues, and dorm mates here at Whittier. I just don't understand how so many people can be so immature at this point in their lives. I suppose part of it comes from the lack of limits and boundaries here in college; I know that some of these people has no freedom in high school, so now they're going to let it all out.
But, I just can't believe how immature they are. Today, in one of my classes, we were watching a foreign film about a conquistador who becomes a captor of the natives of what is now southern Florida. In the film, there is a native who is a dwarf, and he acts somewhat insane, to exemplify the way that the natives reacted to the Europeans. But every time he begins to laugh somewhat insanely, at least half of my class just starts to laugh. All through the film, I hear comments like, "Why doesn't he just kick him over?" or, "Why doesn't he just step on him?" and I realize suddenly that none of these people are going to take from the film what our professor wants to be taken. They'll have no better understanding of identity than they had before the film, because none of them are able to take it seriously.
I suppose part of me thought that when I entered college, I'd be leaving high school behind. But I've come to realize more and more over the past few weeks that Whittier, more than most other schools, is just a bigger, richer, less strict Schurr High School. The buildings match up with Schurr (I'm serious.. ask me about it some time), the societies are simply official groups of the people that hang out in groups at Schurr. Nobody is more intellectual (well.. most people aren't.. there is that select few, not unlike Schurr), nobody is more mature, nobody is more driven. Whittier College is just Schurr High School with half the student population, and a lesser music program.
I hoped that it would be better once I got out of high school. I hoped that classes would me more challenging, more exciting. I hoped that my colleagues would be more driven, more mature. The problem is that I never got out of high school. This isn't something beyond high school, it's just a continuation.
But, I just can't believe how immature they are. Today, in one of my classes, we were watching a foreign film about a conquistador who becomes a captor of the natives of what is now southern Florida. In the film, there is a native who is a dwarf, and he acts somewhat insane, to exemplify the way that the natives reacted to the Europeans. But every time he begins to laugh somewhat insanely, at least half of my class just starts to laugh. All through the film, I hear comments like, "Why doesn't he just kick him over?" or, "Why doesn't he just step on him?" and I realize suddenly that none of these people are going to take from the film what our professor wants to be taken. They'll have no better understanding of identity than they had before the film, because none of them are able to take it seriously.
I suppose part of me thought that when I entered college, I'd be leaving high school behind. But I've come to realize more and more over the past few weeks that Whittier, more than most other schools, is just a bigger, richer, less strict Schurr High School. The buildings match up with Schurr (I'm serious.. ask me about it some time), the societies are simply official groups of the people that hang out in groups at Schurr. Nobody is more intellectual (well.. most people aren't.. there is that select few, not unlike Schurr), nobody is more mature, nobody is more driven. Whittier College is just Schurr High School with half the student population, and a lesser music program.
I hoped that it would be better once I got out of high school. I hoped that classes would me more challenging, more exciting. I hoped that my colleagues would be more driven, more mature. The problem is that I never got out of high school. This isn't something beyond high school, it's just a continuation.