During the first few weeks of college, everyone questions what their life is about and where they're headed in the future. Being 17 years old when it first occurred to me, I thoroughly thought about it and discarded it like so many others. But, the question came back when I tried to answer that exact same question three and a half years later.
Since walking out of the Read building after registering for classes at Texas A&M as an incoming freshman, I have always felt classes at universities are only a part of getting a piece of paper and are in no way relevant for everyday life.
Why should I remember this pointless information? After all, conversations with my parents, who have 50 years of combined experience as educators, opened my eyes to the disconnect between what is taught in universities and what happens in the real world. Evident from the show Blackboard War this television show is not what one thinks of when sitting in a classroom with 20 other students coming from a similar background. Although Blackboard Wars is an extreme case, this is a more realistic view of what the education system is like.
It's a paradox of the learning world. College in nature is supposed to enhance and build on your previous learning experience, while at the same time it can contradict the very foundation of said learning experience. Here is an example that hits close to home: pride.
Growing up we learn that 'pride comes before a fall' and that 'teamwork makes the dream work'. We are told to be a team player by criticizing stars such as Dwight Howard and Allen Iverson for being "individuals." Yet at the same time, we as Americans are taught to be prideful of our country (Texas even more so in our state). We are even taught to take pride in what we do. This idea is evident in the way we are accepted in to college and eventually jobs. We send in a resume saying how amazing we are and why we should be chosen.
We are forced to decide between learned ethics and thriving in college and eventually our careers.
In the midst of a thought process gone over a countless number of times, I caught a glimpse of where I was only four years ago. I was going through the exact same process of thought -- about how knowledge in the classroom is pointless -- but this time there was more to think about.
I've found that it's not solely from communications classes that I've learned to come up with theories and test them on a small scale. I believe that this is exactly what college, as a whole, is intended for. College teaches us and gives us the ability to think for ourselves.
What then happens to our previous thoughts and concepts? It is this very balance of foundational knowledge and new concepts that college students and graduates will wrestle with forever. The college experience is about not only thinking about things, but having the ability to test them.
You will mess your life up if you try anything and everything when getting to college, but you must choose what you should test and what you shouldn't. I grew up in a traditional Southern Baptist home -- which may or may not be as strict as you might think. I was definitely warned and made aware of the fact that 'evolution could be poured into me' and that 60 percent of college students turn away from Christianity. Although I never wavered in my faith, I did not understand what this meant until recently.
You cannot simply turn and forget everything you've learned, but at the same time you can't keep everything that you know. There has to be a balance. Enlightenment approached me and I saw that college is no different from the books we read, the movies we go to, or the video games we play. These are the very things we must watch out for.
I'm not going to say you should hide in a hole and not enjoy life, as many would call it, but you should be well aware of the subtle messages you find in college. The college experience is exactly like the clothes we wear, the music we listen to, the movies and TV shows we watch and the video games we play. These are all in common because they subconsciously teach you how to view life. Yeah, one video game or movie won't change your whole life, but when you look how America is structured today, many things and ideas of life can be related to what we have viewed and watched. It has been quoted over and over that if you are told something over and over, you will eventually believe it, or that it will become truth, and that is the underlying theme. What you are taught in college may not be explicitly told to you, but you subconsciously learn "how to live" all over again.
When you can achieve the idea of thinking for yourself and coming to your own conclusions then you have grasped the major lesson that college wants to teach you.
This is why balance in college is important. College brings awareness outside of subjects and themes that you are used to and balance is only possible when you are fully aware of both sides of the scale. I don't say fully aware lightly.
The best learners and people of balance are the ones who understand this concept, are fully aware of what they believe, as well as know how to decipher what the best and most accurate knowledge is. I'm not saying it's not productive, I'm just saying I learned that balance is essential whether it's coming from your learning experience or even something as simple as getting a full night's rest.