I’m sure all of us remember dreaming about what it would be like to go to college one day. For some of us, those visions were probably influenced by seeing Rory Gilmore go off to Yale or Felicity Porter making her own way in New York City despite her parents’ expectations for her future. But college isn’t really like that, is it? It’s much more– monotonous. It’s much more– practical.
I remember dreaming about college as a little girl. I’d always see myself sitting in these beautiful libraries with the most intricate architecture. In these visions, I was taking classes in literature, philosophy and world politics. I was meeting people from all around the country — all around the world, even. It was magical. What I didn’t envision was the cold sweat that came 15 minutes before my accounting midterm. Or the heart-wrenching feeling when I found out I got a B on an exam in a weeder class where I could have easily gotten a C, or worse. Because a B is a sure sign of failure, right? I certainly did not expect the feeling of dread when Thanksgiving came around because that’s a whole 24 hours where I’m not allowed to do any work. No, this isn’t what college was supposed to be.
All of us are on some kind of path; that’s the way the world works now. The pre-med students are doubled over their organic chemistry textbooks trying to memorize the structure of compounds or molecules or whatever strange-looking blobs I always see my roommate studying. The pre-law students are studying history and politics and debating each other about it all. For me, well, I’m learning about the economy and the stock market and how to record transactions for big corporations run by very important people. When my debits and my credits don’t balance, I can’t sleep (it’s an accounting joke; if you don’t get it, that’s okay).
No matter what you’re learning about, I can almost guarantee that the classes you’re taking are prerequisites for other classes that you will take very soon. I can also almost guarantee that the general education courses you enrolled in were called “an easy A” by someone on Bruinwalk and you decided that this was a perfect opportunity to boost your GPA. I wonder if you actually like what you’re learning about. I wonder: If you had the choice, would you be studying the history of rock and roll or creative writing or something of the sort?
I often think about this dilemma: how the pressure to do well and get good grades has kind of taken over the most basic, fundamental purpose of college. And what is that, you ask? To learn, to expand our worldview, to grow as human beings and to find our purpose. That’s my perspective on it, at least. The sad thing is, we also have to go to college to develop a skill set that makes us marketable, valuable and worthy of a job that will help us pay our bills. That’s why people make fun of the philosophy students. Because even when they graduate, they won’t be able to pay their bills. I used to make fun of them, too — until I took a philosophy course myself. Admittedly, it was my freshman year, and I was so excited to become the kind of woman I daydreamed about as a little girl. No better way to do that than by taking a philosophy course, I thought. And I was right: It was an excellent class, and I’m better for it. Of course, Bruinwalk told me it was an easy A, so I couldn’t pass that up either.
What I’ve come to realize is that there really is no solution to this problem. All of us are here to receive an education to prepare us for the workforce. If we plan to continue to graduate school, our GPAs matter more now than ever. I suppose all I’m trying to say is that it might be worth it once in a while to branch out. Take a class in a new department! Take a class with a professor with horrible ratings just for the sake of learning! Stop worrying so much about the grade! Since when was a B a sure sign of failure? Who knows, maybe I’ll even take another philosophy class one day. Just for old times’ sake.
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Feature Illustration via Adobe Stock
