May 27, 2004
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Topic: Programmed by society
Most people don’t say, “grades are important,” yet most would agree that we treat them as if they are. Most people don’t say, “your worth in life is determined by the title of your school, your job, your position, or your company,” but most would agree that psychologically, it makes a big difference whether you went to a state school or an Ivy, you work in business, or as a camp counselor, you’re a consultant, or just travelling around. Most people don’t say, “I believe money will buy me happiness,” yet most people will still consider money as a leading factor in choosing a job, even at the expense of a job more suited to their interests, or a job that would allow them to spend more time with family and friends.
The question is, what sort of things in your life have you been led to believe are important, but you either have left them behind because you know they’re not, or you’re still valuing them, even though you don’t believe them to be inherently important. How deeply affected have you been by these false beliefs? What sort of beliefs do you hold to be inherently true, but find nearly impossible to pursue because you’re strangled by the norms of society?
Topic: In response to a comment by lettersat3am, i was wondering how practical it is to not go to college, to not pay for someone to educate you and to educate yourself. It seems every job says, “bachelors degree” required. Is a bachelors degree really as required as we’re led to believe, or can non-academic experience make up for the lack of a degree?
Comments (7)
watch you’re email – i’m going to send you the transcript from an interview my friend did with me on how people our age are coping with the stress of life. if i forget to email it in the next few days, beat me over the head with a stick, then i’ll remember and i’ll send it out pronto!
Most people don’t say that those things are important. Maybe its because they don’t want to come off as some society clone, when in their minds, they think that its true. Grades are important. They may not think that they are so important just to get into a high-rank college, but maybe they like the small successes that they feel when they see that “A” paper, or final exam. If someone had a family they should look for a higher paying job to support them, instead of being a bum. Me being a freshman in high-school, I think grades are important, because someday I’ll have a family and I want a high-paying job so that I can support them. Most high paying jobs do require a college education. But I don’t think that it should be such a big deal if they go to an Ivy or not. For some people money may not buy them happiness, but money does give people that financial coushion that’s reassuring to them.
Gosh, ur smart, lol. I’m glad I stumbled onto ur page!
-monica-
The perspective of one senior – soon to be college frosh:
throughout hs, I always felt that grades were important.. it was only towards the end (senioritis!) when I began to question if any of this really mattered in the long run. During the beginning of sr. year, I began to fret about colleges. To my parents, getting in to a good school meant a lot. I guess they sorta rubbed off on me and I picked up the same attitude. Even though I didn’t say it out loud, the rank of a school on that stupid u.s. news college list mattered to me.
It seems to me that society pounds into our brains that getting good grades in hs will lead to getting into a good college. doing well at that good college will get you a good job which will have a high salary. and with that high salary… you can buy happiness. Despite having read all sorta of great literature like Great Expectations which teach us that wealth doesn’t necessarily bring happiness… many of us, myself included, feel that that’s the way our lives should be.
Or maybe I just lack creativity and refuse to “live” outside of the box.
You ask how deeply this has affected by these so called false beliefs. It dictated 18 years of my life so far.
I really wish I had the creativity, the guts, the drive to do something different with my life. Maybe I’ll find all of that in college?
I’ve always been largely self educated. I was in highschool when I started reading Nietzsche and Marx. Yet I squeeked out of highschool with something like a 2.5 gpa (I was always very neglectful of compulsory education). Aristotle said something that I think is very true: it is the nature of man to desire to know. As Hegel pointed out, we seek when we don’t understand (i.e. when there is some contradiction to be resolved). So I have passionately sought out understanding where there was the desire, where I didn’t understand. I guess that’s why I’m a philosophy student. But philosophy then is very expansive and inclusive discipline. One has to look in all directions, to all fields, to come to a complete (though never too complete) understanding. I think that that’s something that is missing from education. What the education system gives most people is a list of facts. When presented with these facts, most people cannot see the forest for the trees, so to speak. What is needed, in my opinion, is the proper training in method, in how to put these facts together, how to see (through such a lens as, I would argue, structuralist marxism or critical theory) the big the picture - structural analysis, if you will. It is a problem even in the philosophy department, where a certain postmodern ideological relativism says, “oh, here is another interesting fact or idea that I am unable to contextualize.”
Of course understanding the fact or idea for what it is is what makes the grade rather than contextual or structural understanding. Perhaps that’s a big part of the problem.
As far as getting that degree goes… get it if you need it. If you don’t, don’t. I don’t know that it is any more complicated than that. Whether or not you need it is the real question, I guess. Part of what we do in Students for Democracy and Peace is hold student lectures. The point of that is to create a ground level sense of empowerment, where those who know educate. That whole idea of everyone giving according to their ability. It challenges established hierarchies, and I think that is important. Thus far they’ve been very historical and theoretical, based on this exchange of ability and need. And it works. The experiences of autonomism would suggest that this cooperative ability/need model works in other areas as well. Certainly it easily applies to education.
Of course I could say more, but its late and I’m sleepy.
Also you commented on my site about my writing something for your book. Of course I could go on and on about what I said above, and if you like I will. Give me a word count and you’ve got it.
I think it’s hard to sometimes fight this idea of money and power and prestige. sometimes i get really fed up with it – like who cares if i make a lot of money? it’s my life – if i want to work at a non-profit and make 20K, that’s fine with me. then i think - shit, loans! Be responsible. i could be doing more. etc. what would my parents say?
it’s hard dan – these choices are really tough. i can tell you this much – i’ve learned that it doesn’t matter what school you go to – my sister went to cornell and she always used to throw it in my face that i only got into berkeley (uh huh – yeah – that explains A LOT!) but i learned a lot more about myself than she did. but i also think sometimes – shit, i’m so lucky i didn’t have to go to SUNY Oswego or something. Which is totally snobbish and elitist. i don’t know – i think we’re raised on these expectations of school and job – like our sole purpose is to get a job and work our asses off.
the problem i’m having is that i don’t necessarily want a job right now, but i can’t really think of anything else that sounds remotely appealing besides sleeping and watching tv all day – and, frankly, i’m not going to walk down that road – so job it is!
i think the key to life is to never be afraid to change your path – my friend is working her ass off right now in a job that she hates and, come the end of her lease for her apt, is going to quit and teach in a country she’s barely ever heard of – and i just think it’s all about being willing to change your life. in contrast, i had a friend who stayed at a shit job for 2 years because she just got used to it – and that is my biggest fear. i want to be able to have the courage to leave. i want to have the foresight to recognise the need change. but i don’t think that can be taught, dan. i think that’s just a personality thing. some people don’t like change. some people like security.
i met a guy who worked for goldman sachs in new york and he said that he hated it. he stayed because he liked new york and it was an experience, but after 2 years he needed a break – the work hard play hard mentality was killing him. he actually had the ability to say no more – i know lots of investment bankers who don’t. now this guy is doing financial communication – which he also finds extremely boring, but, for him – it pays the bills, it keeps him in London where all his friends are, and it’s something that has some other rewards. sometimes a job is a sacrifice – sometimes you have to weigh your wants and needs and see what’s really important. for a lot of people that comes down to lifestyle. for others, lifestyle is secondary to happiness and mental health. it really depends.
i don’t think it’s all bad – i think it’s a personal thing. it totally sucks that we are bogged down with this idea that we have to get rich and buy things and live a certain way – seriously dan – i’ve read a lot of theory on this and i still don’t have an answer. there is no answer. it’s just life. and i don’t even think there is a way to really understand it better than that. i think the drive to change has to come from within – i don’t think it can be pushed on people. and i think more and more people our age are realising these issues and will hopefully (god forbid our generation decides to procreate) pass that on to their kids.
was that even useful? sorry – i tend to ramble at 8:45 in the morning.
Some of the people I admire most never went to college, and they are doing beautiful things with their lives. It can be done, and I think this belief that a person must go to college to do anything worthwhile needs to be fought because it is a very expensive belief to have, for one, and creates great (and unnecessary) burdens of debt on most of us. And the small percentage of people who actually use their degrees to make their living (I’m looking into this) is too small, I think, to make the purchase legitimate in many cases. And then there are all the people who study one thing, decide they don’t enjoy it, and go back to get yet another degree….
Proving to oneself that one can do well in college has legitimacy, but just about everyone does it. What about proving that you can do well without college (or even in spite of college)? Even harder, and therefore says more about the great talents of humanity, I believe.