Higher Education and Me

As I have mentioned in the past, I read most of my updates and such through Times for iPad and Flipboard. I recently discovered (through Flipboard) this article, which was fascinating to me:

Meritocrats, by Tony Judt

Though not explicitly mentioned in the title, this post was all about the merits and purposes of higher education. And though I did not attend Oxford or Cambridge, I share many of the same thoughts about higher education as Mr. Judt shares in the article - and reading that article inspired me to write about what my higher education has meant to me.



Other than my marriage to Jen, I cannot think of a more transformative experience in my life than my higher education. For me, my 1.75 (almost done with the second one) degrees are not about the piece of paper, though those are important for job qualifications and such. The classes and knowledge, by and large, are much more about my experiences rather than the end result. I can think of several professors and classes that had a profound impact on my ability to think critically, write well, and be open-minded. I think so many people in college now are simply there for the piece of paper that one (usually) receives at the end, and I say this is a gross waste of the money and effort involved in the process. I think in order to be truly useful, you must enjoy the experiences and knowledge along the way, knowing that these events and the knowledge you gain will (if you allow it to) transform you into a better citizen, and hopefully a better person. Simply having a degree is not enough, I think, though attaining a degree is laudable. Embracing the experience and making the most of it (and I do not mean partying all the time) helps the process to be as useful as possible for the school, society, and yourself.

I also love what higher education means in this country. I don't mean the terrible for-profit degree mills out there, I mean institutions of higher learning. These institutions represent the fundamental idea associated with the United States - that here, you are not what your parents were, no, you are what you make of yourself. And it is that making which has been so important to me, and I see as having diminishing value for so many students today. They miss the "making" and only want the ending - much a result of our culture of instant gratification and young peoples' lack of a good work ethic. I think that reflects back upon what I said just a moment ago - that we must make ourselves - with hard work and patient effort. An erudite, polite and contributing member of society is not born of little effort and small goals. I think Judt says this well in the article though this quote:

Universities are elitist: they are about selecting the most able cohort of a generation and educating them to their ability—breaking open the elite and making it consistently anew. Equality of opportunity and equality of outcome are not the same thing. A society divided by wealth and inheritance cannot redress this injustice by camouflaging it in educational institutions—by denying distinctions of ability or by restricting selective opportunity—while favoring a steadily widening income gap in the name of the free market. This is mere cant and hypocrisy.

Do I think the process of me becoming an erudite, polite and contributing member of society is done? Not at all. But, I do thank my experiences in higher education as assisting me in making significant strides toward that goal.

That said, what has or does higher education mean to you? Was it annoying, or a joy? What were some of the good and bad experiences? Do you feel like you are better off because of it? I want to know!