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December 18, 2005
Evaluation
Seeing as I'm probably the last one to post.. I completely agree with what everyone else has mentioned thus far...
College is selfish. I often feel detached from the world. I don't read the paper, don't have time to really read news online, and hate the tv news. In a sense, this class was able to integrate current events with the concepts we were talking about. I liked how we were able to free think in class, it made me feel like my thoughts mattered, for once. Everything in class was really great, but the most STELLAR moment would have to be the final projects. I was overcome with so much emotion after the class had ended. It was a good way to see how far each one of us has evolved through our first semester as college students.
I've always been a very opinionated person, but I don't always vocalize what I am thinking. A skill that I have definitely acquired is my ability to express my thoughts and beliefs and justify them better. This class has caused me to think even more outside of the box, and that very important in such an autistic society today.
I hope I take all of this knowledge with me and put it to good use by questioning everything I don't understand, I am a better and more aware person having taken this class.
Posted by lcissearls at December 18, 2005 12:22 PM
Comments
Hey Lauren--
I really, really, really loved your metaphor, "College is selfish". My biggest adjustment when coming to college concerned just that. Throughout my senior year and into the summer I was, in my own words, a "powerhouse". I was taking four AP classes, working 14ish hours per week, tutoring 3 hours per week, and babysitting 10 or more hours per week. I was Editor in Chief of the Literary Journal, a member of the Math Team (extremely nerdy, I know), working on my Girl Scout Gold Award, helping to keep my six-member family moving, and much more. I am sure that many other people in the class were managing the same exact feats. Then I came to college, and in an instant everything stopped. No longer am I making 6 lunches a night for my family for the next, instead I am using a little card to pay for a hot lunch, consisting of anything I want, every day. I’m not helping a 9th grader to master algebra, I’m helping myself master Calculus III. I’m not helping patrons to navigate the library at work, or volunteering at a church activity, but that time is spent in my dorm room, usually on homework. The list goes on and on, but the main point is that no longer was anyone dependent on me, I was doing everything for myself. My life was all about me, me, me. Similar to your fears, Lauren, about not receiving news, I was afraid that things could happen and I would not know that people could change and not need me any more.
Of course, I have resolved my fears a little as I started to work and meet more people at college. Still, what you say is so true. College IS selfish. College makes us focus on our own lives and our own future rather than that of others, which is not necessarily wrong, but certainly a change from what we have been taught our entire lives.
Sorry to write such a novel. Have a great break!
Posted by: Brenna at December 18, 2005 08:53 PM
Hi Lauren,
I had a hard time adjusting to the selfishness of college -- coming from a big family in a small town, I was used to seeing myself as part of a larger community and thought of "the communal good" as unconsciously as I drew breadth. Going to college was amazingly isolating to me, and focusing just on MY life, MY trajectory was foreign. It wasn't that I couldn't be on my own -- it felt wrong to do so. It felt selfish. I eventually decided that it's the interval in life when it's necessary to stand apart and set your own course (that's such a cliche!) and later re-enter one's community in a different relationship, chosen, as an adult.
Posted by: Naette at January 3, 2006 08:57 AM