One night last semester my roommate, Tom, asked me a simple question, “Matt, why are we here at Willamette University?” It’s a question that could very easily been answered very glibly: “Because we’re in college.” No. The question was much more fundamental than that. Tom was asking why we even ought to be in college in the first place. Why are we dedicating such amounts of time, effort, energy, and money to a four-year institution?
I quickly determined that the answer couldn’t just be about knowledge. After all, you can learn much of this information via an alternate schooling method, reading voraciously, or even practical experience. Going to college also could not simply be about that piece of paper that opens up so many doors and opportunities. It is certainly not a justification for going to Willamette University … there are far cheaper and far easier ways to garner that prestigious title of “college graduate.”
I think, as silly as it may sound, going to college is all about the context in which you will be living. For many, it is the first opportunity of independence that they have ever received. They get to set their own schedule, make their own decisions, and really start laying the foundation of who they will be throughout the rest of their life.
College is the setting of a trajectory for the rest of life. At the very least, it allows for the creation of habits and attitudes that determine how we act. At the greatest extent, college can serve as an introduction to vocations and passions that will be pursued for decades.
For me personally, I certainly feel like I am passing through a set of gates. Currently, I am deciding what is really important to me. What shall I pound the table about? What are my passions? How do these passions reflect on my day-to-day life? There were gates before this one and will undoubtedly be gates after … and these passages, most simply, make up the largest reason of why I am attending university.
I’d encourage you to read The Fabric of Faithfulness by Steven Garber. He makes many compelling points about how to “weave” life, belief, and behavior together. He makes the point that the people who had the strength and skills to stand for their convictions had, among other things, a context in which to live out those ideas. They had a community and an environment to engage the embodiment of different values and ideals … including their own.
And the collegiate environment, despite its flaws, does provide that context and community.
Ahoy Mattio!
I think you hit the nail on the head with this one. The reasons you listed are exactly why many companies are more interested in the fact that you have a degree as opposed to what it’s in or who it’s from. On that same note, it’s a bit scary to think that so many young people travel to a moral wasteland to figure out who and what they are.
I suppose you might compare it to the old practice among certain Native American’s of sending their young men into the hills, desert, or wilderness until they come back with a name of their own. Usually it entailed falling into a starving, dehydrated delirium. :P
Anyway, the site looks really great. :) Keep up the good work!
Ben
Matt! Gratz on the shiny new table (on which to pound)! And thanks for the heads-up.
Does the fact that an institution like college “allows for the creation of habits and attitudes that determine how we act” indicate a failure of the local church/family culture? Shouldn’t one already have a context in which to live out one’s convictions, namely, one’s family and the local church of which they’re a part?
I guess I’m just leery about waiting ’till you’re college-aged to set one’s “trajectory.” If you don’t have one by then… *shrugs*
Not attacking you or anything, obviously. ;-) Keep making me proud!
Pops,
Thanks for commenting! You raise a good critique that I think I can readily agree with:
I don’t think that college is the first or only way to provide that context and, indeed, much of that trajectory should be set before ever crossing that ivory tower’s threshold. I do think that part of the tendency we see to “find” oneself in college does reflect a failure in the rest of culture, as you mentioned.
College, however, does provide an opportunity to interact with vastly different points of view, thereby allowing a fuller understanding of how your belief and behavior interact with others. This isn’t to say that your ideas should change because of college’s vast differences, but that you will have to articulate, defend, and apply your ideas in new and meaningful ways.
As always, I appreciate your ability to temper and further define my point.
-Matt
This is a great article for me, as I am considering what I want to do for college, as well as what sort of college I want to go to, and this is a big help with that. Keep up the good work!
Matt,
Great thoughts, thanks for sharing. :)
Context for thought and actions (life in general) always intrigues me. I think you’re right, college has become that context for many people. For better or worse.
I also wholeheartedly recommend “Fabric of Faithfulness!” Especially for those of the college age, so many good thoughts regarding life integration and context.
Matt,
I agree that it is a gate experience. Fitting that we should be filling our minds with information and learning before the gates are closed on our youth.