Monday, September 14, 2009

College, it's all about the lifestyle

One morning on my way into the building I noticed a pile of those fluff mags that appear near the student newspaper box. I noticed that it contained an article on the twenty things a student wished they know before they went to college. Now I realize that I have strange views about higher education being about education, so in the interest of presenting more enlightened perspectives I will share some of my favorites from the article.

"Grades don't really matter. . . . College is more about finding yourself and learning about who you are and what you believe in than what you achieve on paper."

"You don't have to read everything. . . . generally professors have read the required book and just lecture on what you need to know from it. . . . if it's a class that has a general textbook, chances are you don't have to go in depth and you can just use it as a reference tool."

"Scheduling is important. . . . Factor in the best nights to go out and the best time you'll be to listen to hours of lectures the next day when building your schedule. Also, once you discover the beauty of not having class on Friday's, it'll change your life."

Most of the rest of the list provides sage advice on issues of drinking and sex.

For many students college is more a lifestyle choice than an educational experience. Hey that's what I want my tax dollars spent on!

T.S. Hall
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2 comments:

  1. FelixSeptember 28, 2009 at 2:43 AM

    After >12 years of school, people may not take it that seriously.

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  2. Thomas Sutton HallSeptember 28, 2009 at 2:25 PM

    Perhaps it's just because I am looking at the first exam of the semester, but it seems they should take it more seriously.

    One of the reasons some people consider the post WWII years as the high point of higher education in America was the GI Bill generation who coming out of the depression and the war saw higher education as a serious enterprise. The idea of college as a worthy pursuit of all Americans came from this generation who sought to be educated so they could make the world anew.

    It was the baby boom generation children of the GI Bill generation (me included) who increasingly stressed the lifestyle aspects of the higher ed over the educational.

    In these tight budget times one can't blame the taxpayer from suggesting that if college is a lifestyle choice it is no longer a public good. Articles like the one that prompted the post, rightly or wrongly, undermine the entire argument that the public should support the higher ed industry. To the extent that we faculty are not outraged by this we support the cuts to higher education that we complain bitterly about.

    T.S. Hall

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