Why did you go to college?
Really - why did you go to college? It’s a simple question, but the answer, no matter how simple or complex, can say a lot about a person. For the last year, in speaking with the people I meet on campus, I’ve asked that very question - and only one person, it seems, as answered me in a satisfactory question.
“Because I want to change the world,” she said, and I fell head over heels for her, then and there.
In everyone else, I am amazed at the answers I got.
“Because I want a secured, high paying job,” one would say.
“Because I want to be famous,” another said.
“Because I want a big house and a nice car,” someone else would say.
While the answer varied, the theme that I got was that the reason they went to college was for themselves, and not for any other people.
I hate that. I truly hate that, and in the course of finding out those answers, I lost a little bit of faith in humanity.
For as long as I could remember, my goal in life has been to ease the pain of poverty and hopelessness for my fellow Americans; to sooth them at times of discomfort; to provide them with a true shot at the American Dream.
That’s why I joined the Army - knowing damned well that my ideologies and theirs do not match. I wanted to use it as a stepping stone. That’s why I became a political science and women’s studies major. I wanted to know the secrets of politics, I wanted to learn more about the plight of women, to arm myself with the knowledge to help. That’s why I picked up African-American studies as a minor. It doesn’t make me comfortable in that class. I feel as though I am intruding, and invading private space. But I tough it out because I know understanding the history and plight of the African-American community also helps with finding out the best way to help.
The point is this: we, as college students, are the privileged ones. We’ve all been given a chance to succeed - or at the very least, get an education. Others aren’t so fortunate.
Those of us who have been lucky enough to have gotten a shot at the American Dream have an obligation to give back to those who have not, so that those who haven’t gotten such a shot can also reach for that opportunity, so that they, too, can give back to America one day.
Perhaps I am too idealistic. Perhaps I am wrong. More and more, I am starting to believe that, indeed, I AM wrong.
Am I alone in my thoughts of how the world and college should be?
“Because I want to change the world,” she said, and I fell head over heels for her, then and there.
In everyone else, I am amazed at the answers I got.
“Because I want a secured, high paying job,” one would say.
“Because I want to be famous,” another said.
“Because I want a big house and a nice car,” someone else would say.
While the answer varied, the theme that I got was that the reason they went to college was for themselves, and not for any other people.
I hate that. I truly hate that, and in the course of finding out those answers, I lost a little bit of faith in humanity.
For as long as I could remember, my goal in life has been to ease the pain of poverty and hopelessness for my fellow Americans; to sooth them at times of discomfort; to provide them with a true shot at the American Dream.
That’s why I joined the Army - knowing damned well that my ideologies and theirs do not match. I wanted to use it as a stepping stone. That’s why I became a political science and women’s studies major. I wanted to know the secrets of politics, I wanted to learn more about the plight of women, to arm myself with the knowledge to help. That’s why I picked up African-American studies as a minor. It doesn’t make me comfortable in that class. I feel as though I am intruding, and invading private space. But I tough it out because I know understanding the history and plight of the African-American community also helps with finding out the best way to help.
The point is this: we, as college students, are the privileged ones. We’ve all been given a chance to succeed - or at the very least, get an education. Others aren’t so fortunate.
Those of us who have been lucky enough to have gotten a shot at the American Dream have an obligation to give back to those who have not, so that those who haven’t gotten such a shot can also reach for that opportunity, so that they, too, can give back to America one day.
Perhaps I am too idealistic. Perhaps I am wrong. More and more, I am starting to believe that, indeed, I AM wrong.
Am I alone in my thoughts of how the world and college should be?