It’s terrible news. Speeding through college to save 10,000 dollars. Seriously?
As a mid-forty year old solidly ensconced in the mini-van era of life, it saddens me to see young people–in an effort to save a few dollars–rushing through the finest of times, life in college. Treating college as some sort of right of passage to a greater goal is wildly misguided. Who is advising these youngers? Are they really in a rush to buy their first sub-zero or Honda Odyssey?
My gosh, I sit here at the MacBook wishing I could construct words like Alice Sebold or Philip Roth; wishing I had taken more than two literature classes; wishing to be a full-time student again. Here, at Hobart, on the lake…
It is easy to remember the two Biology professors who persistently scolded us pre-med folks for treating college as a vehicle to something else. They wanted us to learn for the sake of enrichment–for the joy of learning itself. At the time, I wrongly considered that they were elitist academics who didn’t like doctors, or doctors-to-be, but I get their point now. Maybe these middle-aged professors knew that doctors are good at little else, other than doctoring, and so they were helping us in more ways than our youthful minds could comprehend at the time.
Finally, to those who say, money is the issue, I would argue that 10,000 dollars over the course of twenty years is about 73 cents a day.
Some chapters in life should not be shortened. Obviously.
JMM