The Institution of Learning
This is my first post, and I’ma boutz ta rant.
So for the past couple of days, all I’ve been thinking about is how I think America’s view of “success” is completely fucked. As it was, I was looking at my friend’s uncle’s blog which can be found at http://rickberlin.blogspot.com/
This man is the shit for the record. anyway, one of his posts is titled “college” and he says a few things that really strike a chord with me. specifically, “i wonder if we need to go. straight out of high school, into the firing line + not even sure why. just to move a kid out of the house + onto the dogtrack of binge drinking, shirtless screams at a sports cam, knocked up or riddled with std’s, studying at the last gasp on amphetamines, useless info shitting itself like bad brains into the next day toilet” and “there is something to be said about testing one’s self in the fish stew of peers. to find out with whom you can catch your breath, or learn the odd degrees of difference. or at least scab off the sophomoric whims of ‘i will be a doctor/lawyer/hot shot’ as soon as that chemistry course nails you to the floor. or ‘i will be a writer’ when at the bottom of your paper in american studies in red pencil is the comment: ‘this is either the best or the worst thing i’ve ever read in my life’. but to spend or owe that much money to learn all the places you fail is false advertising + bought into, like the credit cards handed out like candy to freshmen, only to be abused. all these kids gobble up is the pretense of discipline when on a good day it’s really about learning how to get by, to cheat, to do the least + still make the grade. to wait might not be such a bad idea in hurry-up america.”
Oh, Rick Berlin! how right you fucking are. that “studying at the last gasp on amphetamines”? that is no joke. the fact that people need drugs to drive/motivate themselves to study material MUST say something, and if you’re not careful, those amphetamines will fuck with you while you’re trying to fuck with them just so you can focus on material you couldn’t give two shits about.
so thanks to R.B. for that intro rant. now to MY rant. let me just start by saying that I failed a class during my last semester at BU (oh, yeah. I withdrew for those who don’t know yet - I’ll talk about my plans when they come to fruition..which should be in a few days god willing). MATLAB…computer programming. jesus. my major was mechanical engineering. what was I thinking? I’ve never felt so inferior and stupid than as I did in BU’s college of engineering. I thought that I could convince myself that I could handle 4 years of intense math and science courses, graduate, and then be oh-so-happy because I was able to get a job where I could potentially make a 6-digit salary. woop di fucking do! $100,000! that’s all I need to be a success, right?!
wrong.
from the ripe age of at least 4 years old, we are taught that we need to go to school for 13+ years, go to post-secondary school for 4+ years immediately following, and get a job that’ll have you gettin’ that chedda flow. that’s how you succeed in this world. I want to know who the hell came up with that. why do you have to be making a significant amount of money to be considered a success? why can’t you do what you love and be a success because you’re living the life you want to live and not giving into what society thinks you should.
Fortunately, I have people who’ll support me. Though my mother, on one hand, doesn’t believe in what she calls “feel good” jobs, where you do what you love and are happy even though you might be making a meager $30,000 a year, my father believes that you only have one life to live. He says not everyone is made to be a lawyer, doctor, or engineer, and you should truly love what you do. Unfortunately for me, my dad is a doctor, my mom is a lawyer, and they both love what they do. They also believe that our “entitled” generation has it so easy because everything is handed to us, and yet we still manage to fuck up. Well, I’ve got news: being given money to spend frivolously and being sent to private schools and high-ranking over-priced universities are not the only ingredients to a happy future. What about support? advice? someone to pick you up when you fail instead of utter disappointment and anger because you are now, in fact, “a failure”?
I think it’s all fucked. I think that people should do what they love, and if they’re not “making bank”, so be it. Why sacrifice a happy life for a miserable one just because you know you’d be able to buy the latest in foreign cars or a house in the south of France if you just give up your life for at least 4 years? 4 years is a long time to put your wants/dreams/ambitions/whatevers on hold.
For those of you wondering, I’m changing my major to audio and media technology aka audio production/engineering, so I’ll be breathing, eating, sleeping, and living music. And you know, maybe I’ll be making a quarter of what I would have made had I continued to make myself miserable in engineering, but I know one thing is for sure: I’ll be happy as shit (or a little kid in a candy store if you’re looking for a more pleasant image) doing what I do and not living by the wishes/wants of others.
