I recieved my acceptance letter to SUNY Binghamton. As I look back on the college application process, and the extensive forms detailing my activities and achievements that i spent my weekends filling out, I am disgusted.
I'd like to send my letter of acceptance back, a big "FUCK YOU" in purple sharpie scratched across the front. It's not because the school has wronged me, in fact they have been nothing but cooperative and prompt. It's merely that they recognized my achievement, and by doing so, they have implicated me in something bigger than myself, something i want no part of.

It's hard to say what that something is. It's old, I know that much. I'm going to call it a scheme for now. It's a great scheme, the scheme of competition, of selfishness, jealousy, and egocentrism. It is a counterproductive system, it's alienating, and it is not in the best interest of the individual or society.

It's a race we all run, stepping over each other, ridiculing each other on the way up, and cursing everyone on the way down. It's a race that wears us out on the way to an ominous finish line.

Let's all just be kind now, and forget about the finish line for a spell. Let's nurse aching calf muscles, drink plenty of fluids, and pace ourselves.

It ain't a race after all.

So now I had this acceptance letter in my hands, and I didn’t know what to do with myself. Would it turn out to be the rewarding intellectual environment I had been hoping for? More importantly, would it be anything like high school? (Hopefully, no)

I took a college course at OCC, and if higher education is anything like that class, I will fit right in. I enjoy text and ideas. I like written exams, and pouring over books full of concepts, theories, and practical application of material. I am patient, and I have a long attention span. I like lectures, and discussion. I like mature, kind people.

Is that too much to ask of an institution?

It is amazing how we chase after things that we want. Then when we get it, it seems like, "what was the hurry?" "why did I make it such a big deal?" I hope you enjoy your college years no matter what school you go to.
» KkaMA67 on 2007-03-11 11:59:18

Hahaha, that would be awesome if you did that.

Especially with a purple sharpie, they're the best.

Had I know school would be like it is, I'd have done the same thing.
» ikimashokie on 2007-03-12 01:16:10

I like the third from last paragraph the most.
» Dilated on 2007-03-12 02:47:06

Glad you got into that place. Too bad you couldn't have come to Rutgers.

I don't think college is as bad of a system as you make it out to be. Nobody is competing here; not in the English major, anyway. I can understand the competition in sciences where you only need to do better than other people, and the curve will take care of the rest. Seems like a load of bullshit. But where I am, it's basically an individual track I take that relies little on competition with others. You get out of it what you want to put into it. The faculty is only here to guide you in a direction you want to go, and only if you want to be guided.

You should criticize something else that actually deserves the criticism. Lower education deserves it more than higher education.
» Bartholomew on 2007-03-12 03:44:09

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