Interesting rant... or maybe not
I know I take myself too seriously about things but perhaps I should rant for a bit. It's been a long time. This rant is basically a culmination of discussions I've had with Beth on the matter and an adaptation of some of the things she and I said, applied to college life and education in the US in general. Thanks Beth- for inspiration.
I'm a music performance major with aspirations of joining the academic world with a PhD of ethnomusicology. I want to teach college and continue to learn my entire life (idealism, yes, I know). I also want to find other people who are interested in my subjects and talk with them. This way, we can pass on information and continue the learning process. However, I feel it's very difficult to do something like that in this day and age. The main focus of this little rant is the frustration I have toward my hopeless idealism of the academic world. I have no place or right to make these assumptions but I'm going to do so anyhow, maybe in order to fully understand the situation we're all in.
Now, with the current trends of the US, we are close to last in education. There's probably a reason for this. From day one, we are taught how to go to college. Not how to learn, not how to do anything useful. We are told each day that we need items, jobs, clubs, and projects for our college transcripts. It's ridiculous. "I need to join this club or this school won't take me." It's not what we should be thinking. That's honestly, the most intellectually irresponsible thing I've ever heard. How many people do you know who have said this or say this? Since when does it matter if you played saxophone in a band- does that suddenly make you a better scientist? If you were in the Ski Club, are you better fit to be a surgeon? Yes, I understand that this element gives a competitive edge to people attempting to enter college. There has to be some way to pick between 2 kids with 1600 and 4.0s. But in my opinion, those are the big morons that shouldn't be going to college. So what? You've managed to listen and pay attention and do everything teacher asked you to do. Congratulations- you're now a perfectly trained supersoldier. Let's go out and defeat some Commies. Oh yeah, Einstein wasn't a genius because he couldn't pass Psychology 101. Bullllshit. The reason why colleges are one of the biggest failures we have in our society is because of the focus on things outside of the actual aspect of learning. They don't have any independent thought what-so-ever. They reiterate all these facts that people have told them in order to get by. That's not learning, that's just good note taking- it doesn't mean you have your own opinion or your own take on things. So when you grow up, you're just telling people what some balding 60 year old man told you to think. I know Beth has heard this all before.
Another terrible thing. Colleges recruit people for the sole purpose of making money. Where does this money go? To support it's large football crowds, football players, and stadiums. It also goes to athletes for financial aid and scholarships. I don't understand. Education is the real reason why colleges exist. Not football. People are accepted to colleges because of physical talent WITH people who are accepted for intellectual talent. In high school, the nerdy brainy kid is being picked on by the football kids- they punch him in the stomach and steal his lunch. That nerdy kid can only survive on the fact that his intellect will drive him past those people. Then, freshman orientation at Yale, when everything is supposed to pay off for the nerdy brainy kid, those very same kids from high school that beat him up and devoted their lives to a silly game are sitting with him, laughing because of how they got there. That, frankly, isn't fair. Maybe we should divide institutions of learning and sports. BUT that's not good for colleges financially. They literally need the money from sports to stay afloat, which is funny because all the money they have goes directly into sports anyhow. It's a self feeding process. Many colleges *cough Rutgers* would rather give up something like, say, their Film School *again cough Rutgers* to preserve sports. How is this helping anyone? What about that kid that wants to learn from teachers that Rutgers has on staff that teach Film? No, he's again punched in the stomach and his lunch is stolen. I thought college was supposed to be the brainy nerdy kid's only sanctuary. And while I don't use that as clear justification for why college should be more oriented toward intellectualism, because frankly, a lot of those "nerdy brainy kids", where the overachieving morons that we in every club in high school. But, the premise for college, at least in today's society, is that it's competitive and like I said before, you need an edge. Which makes me laugh in a way. Those kids who tried soooo hard to get into a good college go there and see the other people they are in college with (mainly the people there just for sports) and are probably disgusted. Maybe that's their payment. It's hard to make a distinction, at least now, between the nerdy brainy kids who are legitimate and those who are there because they are just professional studiers but I'd like to think my model applies to nerds who really wanna learn about what they are majoring in to better themselves, not just as a career.
Ah yes, that brings up the next thing. College isn't supposed to be a place where you go and come out with a career. It's supposed to be a building and institution of higher learning. Maybe in the past 60 years or so, this vision has morphed- or maybe it wasn't ever true to it's vision in the first place. Whatever. I acknowledge "evolution" in this situation because things can and will change. Metal today is not metal from the 80s. And, as Beth says, I have to accept this because that's what metal is now- maybe I don't like it but it doesn't mean it isn't metal. Okay, so building on that. I don't like today's metal. So what should I do? Listen to today's metal because it's metal? How does that solve anything? Many college students are just accepting the horrible nature of this system and listening to bands they hate. That's not going to fix anything. Why suffer and be unhappy and not fufill the intellectual need you have just because society dictates (poorly) how you're supposed to go to college and why? Well, it's not only society- I bet classmates are like that too. They may judge a person because they AREN'T trying to find a career in their college adventure. That creates an environment which, in many ways, is absolutely counterproductive to learning. So what, now I have to stop learning what I want to learn and pick out a career? I thought this was all based on doing what I want? In many cases- no. You need to find a career. Seeking lots of knowledge and doing nothing with it is dangerous.
Which leads to maybe the point of this rant. I believe that the way our society works now is not conducive with a good intellectual environment. The propaganda machine in the US has given intellectuals a black eye, calling us "bleeding heart idealists" and "liberals" or whatever. Since when has knowledge become the enemy? The best part of the whole equation, though, is that these intellectual right wing "titans" on the radio are slinging mud not at the intellectuals, but at Mr. 4.0 1600 Yale. They go out and do silly little dances in the streets, thinking that they will simply change a society that does not promote their growth. Holding up a piece of cardboard on the streets of NYC does absolutely nothing in this age of computers, the internet (and cliches apparently). But in reality, these people are not a good representation of colleges in general. They are the people who believe what their teachers tell them- programed at birth to be the grey to the blue, the Hakuto to the Nanten, the east to the west. How does this promote change, intellectualism, anything? It just promotes squabbles. Most of the people see the images on TV and are convinced by people like Rush Limbaugh and other "titans" that the people on TV are very very wrong. "Why aren't those kids in Iraq serving our wonderful country? How unpatriotic!" It shows in the last election.
Bush clearly won- whether there was a conspiracy or not, who cares. This means that the people who voted for him have the majority of the opinions in this country. That means, if people understand what they are doing when they are voting, they are electing someone who shares their own opinions, ideals, and morals. So, that would mean, if you don't share those values, you're in the minority, whether you like it or not. There is no way to change society unless you convince people in the majority to swing over. That doesn't work well. If someone has an opinion, it's really not your right to change it. It just means that your opinion in this country is unpopular. Therefore, it is my opinion that the United States of America, at this point in time, is anti-intellectualism and pro-conformist. This means, as Bush said "You're with us or against us." You don't necessarily have to be with or against- you can just leave the scene all together.
When both sides make no sense, maybe the only logical thing to do is leave. Maybe we should all attempt to seek intellectual refuge somewhere else. People keep shouting that if we don't like what's going on in our country, we should get up and leave. Let's just do it. Maybe all of us sitting in colleges who are sick of all those people coming in to class hung over, sleeping through class, and then getting As because they are football players and they need As should just leave the US. We've already been demonized to a great extent. No one would really miss us. Maybe there is another place, where perhaps intellectualism and independent thought are highly valued. Yes, this plays into an idealist's dream. But I'm not exactly an idealist about this- there has to be one place that provides a better learning and working environment- it doesn't have to be perfect or the "Land of Milk and Honey."
Some may find this opinion spiteful or in bad taste. I understand. I'm just frustrated with the whole system and wanted to just kinda think about a way to solve it. Honestly, I have no clue about overseas colleges or the way they work. Hell, they may not even accept me because I'm from America. Even better, they may want me to take even MORE tests to get into college to judge my brains. I don't know. I just hope by the time I'm working on my PhD that it will be okay to learn again, in some capacity. Oh well, rant over. Let's see how much XP I gained.
Experience points gained: 1750
Learned Step Mine!
Steve's Rant Level is now 1!
Found a "Speaking Voice"
I'm a music performance major with aspirations of joining the academic world with a PhD of ethnomusicology. I want to teach college and continue to learn my entire life (idealism, yes, I know). I also want to find other people who are interested in my subjects and talk with them. This way, we can pass on information and continue the learning process. However, I feel it's very difficult to do something like that in this day and age. The main focus of this little rant is the frustration I have toward my hopeless idealism of the academic world. I have no place or right to make these assumptions but I'm going to do so anyhow, maybe in order to fully understand the situation we're all in.
Now, with the current trends of the US, we are close to last in education. There's probably a reason for this. From day one, we are taught how to go to college. Not how to learn, not how to do anything useful. We are told each day that we need items, jobs, clubs, and projects for our college transcripts. It's ridiculous. "I need to join this club or this school won't take me." It's not what we should be thinking. That's honestly, the most intellectually irresponsible thing I've ever heard. How many people do you know who have said this or say this? Since when does it matter if you played saxophone in a band- does that suddenly make you a better scientist? If you were in the Ski Club, are you better fit to be a surgeon? Yes, I understand that this element gives a competitive edge to people attempting to enter college. There has to be some way to pick between 2 kids with 1600 and 4.0s. But in my opinion, those are the big morons that shouldn't be going to college. So what? You've managed to listen and pay attention and do everything teacher asked you to do. Congratulations- you're now a perfectly trained supersoldier. Let's go out and defeat some Commies. Oh yeah, Einstein wasn't a genius because he couldn't pass Psychology 101. Bullllshit. The reason why colleges are one of the biggest failures we have in our society is because of the focus on things outside of the actual aspect of learning. They don't have any independent thought what-so-ever. They reiterate all these facts that people have told them in order to get by. That's not learning, that's just good note taking- it doesn't mean you have your own opinion or your own take on things. So when you grow up, you're just telling people what some balding 60 year old man told you to think. I know Beth has heard this all before.
Another terrible thing. Colleges recruit people for the sole purpose of making money. Where does this money go? To support it's large football crowds, football players, and stadiums. It also goes to athletes for financial aid and scholarships. I don't understand. Education is the real reason why colleges exist. Not football. People are accepted to colleges because of physical talent WITH people who are accepted for intellectual talent. In high school, the nerdy brainy kid is being picked on by the football kids- they punch him in the stomach and steal his lunch. That nerdy kid can only survive on the fact that his intellect will drive him past those people. Then, freshman orientation at Yale, when everything is supposed to pay off for the nerdy brainy kid, those very same kids from high school that beat him up and devoted their lives to a silly game are sitting with him, laughing because of how they got there. That, frankly, isn't fair. Maybe we should divide institutions of learning and sports. BUT that's not good for colleges financially. They literally need the money from sports to stay afloat, which is funny because all the money they have goes directly into sports anyhow. It's a self feeding process. Many colleges *cough Rutgers* would rather give up something like, say, their Film School *again cough Rutgers* to preserve sports. How is this helping anyone? What about that kid that wants to learn from teachers that Rutgers has on staff that teach Film? No, he's again punched in the stomach and his lunch is stolen. I thought college was supposed to be the brainy nerdy kid's only sanctuary. And while I don't use that as clear justification for why college should be more oriented toward intellectualism, because frankly, a lot of those "nerdy brainy kids", where the overachieving morons that we in every club in high school. But, the premise for college, at least in today's society, is that it's competitive and like I said before, you need an edge. Which makes me laugh in a way. Those kids who tried soooo hard to get into a good college go there and see the other people they are in college with (mainly the people there just for sports) and are probably disgusted. Maybe that's their payment. It's hard to make a distinction, at least now, between the nerdy brainy kids who are legitimate and those who are there because they are just professional studiers but I'd like to think my model applies to nerds who really wanna learn about what they are majoring in to better themselves, not just as a career.
Ah yes, that brings up the next thing. College isn't supposed to be a place where you go and come out with a career. It's supposed to be a building and institution of higher learning. Maybe in the past 60 years or so, this vision has morphed- or maybe it wasn't ever true to it's vision in the first place. Whatever. I acknowledge "evolution" in this situation because things can and will change. Metal today is not metal from the 80s. And, as Beth says, I have to accept this because that's what metal is now- maybe I don't like it but it doesn't mean it isn't metal. Okay, so building on that. I don't like today's metal. So what should I do? Listen to today's metal because it's metal? How does that solve anything? Many college students are just accepting the horrible nature of this system and listening to bands they hate. That's not going to fix anything. Why suffer and be unhappy and not fufill the intellectual need you have just because society dictates (poorly) how you're supposed to go to college and why? Well, it's not only society- I bet classmates are like that too. They may judge a person because they AREN'T trying to find a career in their college adventure. That creates an environment which, in many ways, is absolutely counterproductive to learning. So what, now I have to stop learning what I want to learn and pick out a career? I thought this was all based on doing what I want? In many cases- no. You need to find a career. Seeking lots of knowledge and doing nothing with it is dangerous.
Which leads to maybe the point of this rant. I believe that the way our society works now is not conducive with a good intellectual environment. The propaganda machine in the US has given intellectuals a black eye, calling us "bleeding heart idealists" and "liberals" or whatever. Since when has knowledge become the enemy? The best part of the whole equation, though, is that these intellectual right wing "titans" on the radio are slinging mud not at the intellectuals, but at Mr. 4.0 1600 Yale. They go out and do silly little dances in the streets, thinking that they will simply change a society that does not promote their growth. Holding up a piece of cardboard on the streets of NYC does absolutely nothing in this age of computers, the internet (and cliches apparently). But in reality, these people are not a good representation of colleges in general. They are the people who believe what their teachers tell them- programed at birth to be the grey to the blue, the Hakuto to the Nanten, the east to the west. How does this promote change, intellectualism, anything? It just promotes squabbles. Most of the people see the images on TV and are convinced by people like Rush Limbaugh and other "titans" that the people on TV are very very wrong. "Why aren't those kids in Iraq serving our wonderful country? How unpatriotic!" It shows in the last election.
Bush clearly won- whether there was a conspiracy or not, who cares. This means that the people who voted for him have the majority of the opinions in this country. That means, if people understand what they are doing when they are voting, they are electing someone who shares their own opinions, ideals, and morals. So, that would mean, if you don't share those values, you're in the minority, whether you like it or not. There is no way to change society unless you convince people in the majority to swing over. That doesn't work well. If someone has an opinion, it's really not your right to change it. It just means that your opinion in this country is unpopular. Therefore, it is my opinion that the United States of America, at this point in time, is anti-intellectualism and pro-conformist. This means, as Bush said "You're with us or against us." You don't necessarily have to be with or against- you can just leave the scene all together.
When both sides make no sense, maybe the only logical thing to do is leave. Maybe we should all attempt to seek intellectual refuge somewhere else. People keep shouting that if we don't like what's going on in our country, we should get up and leave. Let's just do it. Maybe all of us sitting in colleges who are sick of all those people coming in to class hung over, sleeping through class, and then getting As because they are football players and they need As should just leave the US. We've already been demonized to a great extent. No one would really miss us. Maybe there is another place, where perhaps intellectualism and independent thought are highly valued. Yes, this plays into an idealist's dream. But I'm not exactly an idealist about this- there has to be one place that provides a better learning and working environment- it doesn't have to be perfect or the "Land of Milk and Honey."
Some may find this opinion spiteful or in bad taste. I understand. I'm just frustrated with the whole system and wanted to just kinda think about a way to solve it. Honestly, I have no clue about overseas colleges or the way they work. Hell, they may not even accept me because I'm from America. Even better, they may want me to take even MORE tests to get into college to judge my brains. I don't know. I just hope by the time I'm working on my PhD that it will be okay to learn again, in some capacity. Oh well, rant over. Let's see how much XP I gained.
Experience points gained: 1750
Learned Step Mine!
Steve's Rant Level is now 1!
Found a "Speaking Voice"