So what is the point of college?
So this past week I've had this whole feeling of wondering why I'm at college. Currently I'm failing a class (religion shit class to be exact) and the whole reason is because of reading quizzes. In my opinion reading quizzes should be stopped once a student reaches high school. Middle of book or end of test books are completely acceptable, as that tests the students overall knowledge of the subject at hand. Reading quizzes however are given out by teachers to see if the students are actually reading. They test the most obscure details of the reading as opposed to what really matters about the learning. The problem with this lies in the fact that I am TERRIBLE at picking out and remembering these obscure details, so I constantly fail these reading quizzes. The end result is that teachers believe I'm not doing the reading, getting me in more trouble and making them have a negative outlook on my work ethic. Oh well, thats not really my point, but I just thought I would use it to explain one thing thats been going on recently and to lead into this thought. To me one of the worst feelings is this one of putting so much effort into something and failing over and over again. In this case with the quizzes, it makes me wonder what the point of even trying is, and then I realize its because of the main goal of graduating college. I mean thats the point of enrolling in college and going four years right? But what if thats not what the person wants. I think everyones goal in life should be to be happy. If somebody is happy working at McDonald's for 6 bucks an hour, then whats wrong with that? In society we look down on people like this. The fast food workers, janitors, and cafeteria workers of our society constantly get crap from the majority of people in our society, and why is this? Because people have sticks too far up their asses from their high-paying jobs. I mean these people obviously didn't graduate from college and maybe not even from high school, so obviously they are the trash of society right? Now here are my problems with this scenario. First off, to all you people who think that these people do nothing for society, take a step back and look at where you would be without them. Imagine your life without Burger King, without Starbucks, because god forbid you couldn't get your tall decaf caramel frappachino with two shots of espresso. And would you like to live in a world without janitors. I'll steal a quote from Office Space here when Michael Bolton talks about those job quizzes. "If that quiz worked, there would be no janitors, because no one would clean shit up if they had a million dollars." Where would you be without these people in your life? Secondly, have you ever actually taken the time to get to know these people who without you knowing it play such a huge role in your life. Some of the nicest and more intelligent people I have met in my life have been the cafeteria workers and janitors of my schools. They put up with and clean up peoples shit (bad pun I know) for their JOB. They could choose not to be doing this job that some see as so disgraceful, but day in and day out they continue to be there with a smile on their face.
Ok, so now that I have explained all of that I can finally get to my final point. I had been contemplating the real purpose of college this past week due to all of this nonsense with me failing. I came up with the concept that I really wouldn't need to make a ton of money in my life to make me happy. All I would need is a job I enjoy, people I love, and a place to call home. I couldn't really figure out how college played into this theory until today at lunch. During one of our discussions, Zack brought up the point that people don't go to college for an education, but for the reason that a higher education means more money. Now this may not be the case for all of students in college, but for a huge percentage its main reason. People trudge through four more years of annoying classes, boring professors and hours upon hours of homework. Once again I ponder why the hell I'm here, costing my grandparents $40,000 a year. I know its going to be beneficial in the end, but more and more I feel that it is something I could definitely live without. I'm sure I could find a job that I could enjoy, even if it didn't entail a $50,000 paycheck. I already know I could be living with people who love me and whom I love. This is why I have somewhat come to doubt my purpose of being here. I have however came to the conclusion that I will stay here as long as I can and continue to get my education. Now I can't deny that the main reason I'm here IS for the very purpose of being more successful in the future, and after coming to all the conclusions mentioned above I almost feel crappy about that, but I know it is for the best that I keep going, so I will.
Ok, so now that I have explained all of that I can finally get to my final point. I had been contemplating the real purpose of college this past week due to all of this nonsense with me failing. I came up with the concept that I really wouldn't need to make a ton of money in my life to make me happy. All I would need is a job I enjoy, people I love, and a place to call home. I couldn't really figure out how college played into this theory until today at lunch. During one of our discussions, Zack brought up the point that people don't go to college for an education, but for the reason that a higher education means more money. Now this may not be the case for all of students in college, but for a huge percentage its main reason. People trudge through four more years of annoying classes, boring professors and hours upon hours of homework. Once again I ponder why the hell I'm here, costing my grandparents $40,000 a year. I know its going to be beneficial in the end, but more and more I feel that it is something I could definitely live without. I'm sure I could find a job that I could enjoy, even if it didn't entail a $50,000 paycheck. I already know I could be living with people who love me and whom I love. This is why I have somewhat come to doubt my purpose of being here. I have however came to the conclusion that I will stay here as long as I can and continue to get my education. Now I can't deny that the main reason I'm here IS for the very purpose of being more successful in the future, and after coming to all the conclusions mentioned above I almost feel crappy about that, but I know it is for the best that I keep going, so I will.