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Commentary
Education: what have we learned?
By Nissa Billmyer
Published:
Thursday, October 3, 2002
Media Credit: Staff
Nissa Billmyer -- Staff Essay
Here I am, approximately eight months from graduation. I find myself both excited and scared. You might find this a redundant essay, but I want you to try and understand the importance of what I am about to say.
I have been reflecting on the past four years. I watched myself grow up. I grew from a very inhibited, naive teen to the individual adult that I am. Like many young women, I never believed all the things that I would be faced with and the choices I would make.
I dealt with relationships and tried to figure out the age old question of "who am I?" I know, I know, you've all heard this before. But unless you absolutely know your individual marking, then you will have difficulty understanding what I mean.
College is an opportunity, but I also see that it isn't so much the decision of should I go, but rather where and what for. Our society has put a great squeeze on the youth of today. We have received the message that we are not worthy of certain things while those who receive a college education take these things for granted.
Case in point,. I have some friends of which some have college educations and others who don't. I have watched as the ones who chose not to go to school are disrespected. They are shot down with looks or given a cold shoulder. They are passed by as if yesterday's trash.
Now as college educated people are considered, we don't realize the attitudes we are treated with. We gain respect because of a piece of paper says so, but a person could be the biggest donkey out there and still get more respect than someone without that piece of paper who has learned more than they ever will simply by experience.
Now as college-educated folks, we are supposed to have open minds. We are supposed to not judge books by their covers. So I ask, if we are so mature, why then do we turn others down?
I learned an important lesson. I was weary of an individual when I first met them because of how they looked. After a couple of hours into getting to know the individual I became greatly at ease and then I realized something; I was supposed to be educated and intelligent and I had judged someone. Now why did I do this? Perhaps it's the fact that as individuals what we are taught passes through one ear and out the other.
I was humbled. I learned that even thought I was numerically and physically older than when I began college, I had acted with the impulse of a younger age. I grew up right then and there. Now I see people in a much different light. Yes, I still proceed with caution. However, I make myself remember that not everyone I meet is a freak of nature, I am one myself.
So with this idea, I ask of you readers to think about how you are judging people. Even though we are college beings, are we acting as such? Are we applying all the things we've been taught to our daily lives?
I know the events of 9/11 made us reevaluate who other people are. However, did we begin to think that we were a wary society long before? We claimed we were open-minded, that we as a nation were the "melting pot," while in the end, were we really a bunch of judging hypocrites?
We say we are an American society. I believe, and regardless of your education, we know better. We have to understand that we are all walking the same ground. Now if you believe one thing and I believe another, you are entitled to that. But will you judge me later? The majority of us will. Think, and I mean really think, when you look at that person who dresses not like you, are they really all that bad?
I think that this college education has taught me lessons that I have not paid for. I know that when I leave I will be ten times the person I was when I started. So I ask you, will you be, too? If that piece of paper is supposed to stand for what you received and be a symbol for an intelligent person, how true will it be? Or are we all a bunch of donkeys?
