However, after four years in high school and already two terms into my college career, I am finding myself appalled by my some of my peers attitude towards higher education. I think society has the habit of telling our youth that they need to find something that will make them money. Society tells us that if we find a career that makes a lot of money, we will find happiness. This goes completely against some people's belief that money does not bring happiness. There is another theory that if we find work we are happy with, we will find the money.
In all, I believe we are all setting each other up to fail. Society does not tell, but it implies that certain majors in college will not help you succeed. Because after all, our goal in our life time is to be rich and comfortable until the day we die. My philosophy professor asked the philosophy majors if they have ever had a specific reaction to their announcement of a major. One girl even said that someone had told her, "I'm sorry".
Why are we so keen on having majors science and math related? Is it because not everyone can do that? We need people from other majors too. We need the creative writers, the journalists, the philosophers, the historians, and more! We are so concerned about being comfortable in life when at the end of the day we will all die. I'm terrible sorry if that sounds super morbid. Actually not really. But in some sense a lot of the things, material things that we gain are not all that important.
We have lost the true idea of what it means to crave knowledge. Now we are so keen on "getting an education". Having knowledge of complex things is what differentiates us from any other animal of the Animal Kingdom. We have the curiosity and the brain capacity to ask questions and find answers. Because we have this "special gift", we should be using our time to learn about the world instead of having the goal of money making.
I have always encountered this mentality. I told my friends and family I wanted to learn Latin. "Oh what for?" "I think it would be interesting to learn it." I told my friends that I might want to study Philosophy. Once again, I was met with the same "what for". Why do I need a reason for wanting to learn? These responses were all met in high school. High school is a completely different story.
In high school we are told that we need to make these grades, have these extra curricular activities, and with that, get into the best college. The learning ceases to excite high school students because 1. teachers are not engaging and 2. we are throw in with the idea we need to excel. Because we're thrown in with number two and with the idea that we have to get into the best college, we start realizing we will need a good job therefore we need to do whatever we can to get a major that will make us money and take the courses required for it.
In College, I noticed people were less in this mentality. Some people are interested in taking courses and subjects outside of their subject. However this is not sway away from the fact that we are still all in college because we are afraid of our future economic standing in society.
Cheers,
Claire
In all, I believe we are all setting each other up to fail. Society does not tell, but it implies that certain majors in college will not help you succeed. Because after all, our goal in our life time is to be rich and comfortable until the day we die. My philosophy professor asked the philosophy majors if they have ever had a specific reaction to their announcement of a major. One girl even said that someone had told her, "I'm sorry".
Why are we so keen on having majors science and math related? Is it because not everyone can do that? We need people from other majors too. We need the creative writers, the journalists, the philosophers, the historians, and more! We are so concerned about being comfortable in life when at the end of the day we will all die. I'm terrible sorry if that sounds super morbid. Actually not really. But in some sense a lot of the things, material things that we gain are not all that important.
We have lost the true idea of what it means to crave knowledge. Now we are so keen on "getting an education". Having knowledge of complex things is what differentiates us from any other animal of the Animal Kingdom. We have the curiosity and the brain capacity to ask questions and find answers. Because we have this "special gift", we should be using our time to learn about the world instead of having the goal of money making.
I have always encountered this mentality. I told my friends and family I wanted to learn Latin. "Oh what for?" "I think it would be interesting to learn it." I told my friends that I might want to study Philosophy. Once again, I was met with the same "what for". Why do I need a reason for wanting to learn? These responses were all met in high school. High school is a completely different story.
In high school we are told that we need to make these grades, have these extra curricular activities, and with that, get into the best college. The learning ceases to excite high school students because 1. teachers are not engaging and 2. we are throw in with the idea we need to excel. Because we're thrown in with number two and with the idea that we have to get into the best college, we start realizing we will need a good job therefore we need to do whatever we can to get a major that will make us money and take the courses required for it.
In College, I noticed people were less in this mentality. Some people are interested in taking courses and subjects outside of their subject. However this is not sway away from the fact that we are still all in college because we are afraid of our future economic standing in society.
Cheers,
Claire
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