What is the purpose of higher education?
Lately, I’ve been feeling that it is to stress me out, make me doubt all things in life and to suck the meaning out of any other enjoyable moment coinciding with its presence.??
It’s that time of the year – the time when everything starts piling up.?In the next five weeks before finals I have two different large term papers due, several presentations, several smaller papers and several exams. This is the semester that’s trying to kill me.?And I’m sure everyone can relate to the sentiment.?There’s just something about the spring semester after the break in the middle that seems to drive students crazy.?It feels like all your professors are out to get you and drive you mad.?It seems to suck the life out of, well, life.
So as I was being overloaded in stress and overcome by anxiety this week, I asked myself, “Why do I care so much??What is the purpose of me even being here and what worth does writing this paper or taking this exam have for my life?”?I came up with several answers, but two very important reflections.
One: The purpose is the future.?The purpose is knowledge and growth and all that academia stuff.?For myself, the goal is to attend graduate school and have a successful career thereafter (sort of hard to accomplish without a successful undergraduate experience).?For others it is finding a good job, getting hired, standing out, making money and supporting a family.?Most of the reasons we put ourselves through these four years has something to do with our future plans.?So we go through classes and assignments with each one feeling as if it has the weight and ability to destroy our future plans and life as we know it if we do poorly.?Failure is not an option.?Right?
However, what I really came to the realization of this week was that college, with all the pressure involved and all the “hopes and dreams” riding on my success, does not make or break the meaning in my life.?Getting an “A” in a class is nice.?Getting into graduate school would be even nicer.?But not getting an “A” does not make me a failure.?Even not getting into graduate school (which I’ve been betting on for years) would not make me a failure.?It would not make my life have any less meaning.?And finding meaning, in my opinion, is the only thing truly important in life. Call me an existentialist, but it’s true.??
But how many of us honestly believe that in our everyday lives??As students of higher education, we’ve been sleeping, eating and breathing academia our whole lives.?Society, our parents, our professors and our friends put an emphasis on the fact that a good life means a good job, which is contingent upon academic success.??
But is that really true??Who ever said you had to go to college to be happy??And who said you had to be super-great at school to feel good about yourself???
The truth is, you don’t.?Amidst all the papers that seem like they will make or break our lives, that notion is hard to accept.?But my hope is we can all take these last few weeks — and while getting done all the things we have to in order to learn and make grades and graduate — that we will be able to step back and always know that if it doesn’t work, or if something goes wrong, it will be OK.?And not just OK, better than OK.?Life has more meaning and joy and glory to be experienced than what is offered by being a diligent student.
And while you’ll get me to complain a lot about things at Baker, I must admit that this week I was reminded of why I came here: personal relationships.?I must give a rather large “thank you” to a few professors (who know who they are) for being such involved, empathetic, concerned and dedicated individuals.?I would never have the kinds of conversations I can have with my professors if I had gone to the University of Kansas.?I wouldn’t get the one-on-one help and attention at a large university like I do at this one.?You all know what I mean, I’m sure.?And those professors help remind us every day that the end product goal of this education is not a diploma, it is the experience.
So, do your best to enjoy the last five weeks of the semester.?And it won’t be easy, that’s for sure.?But today isn’t just a stepping stone in your life.?It is meant to be lived fully and completely, and that means finding joy and meaning in each and every part.?It’s certainly a challenge, but as students in need of inspiration, it’s one worth accepting.