It’s unfair! It is unfair that, as students, we have to work so hard that we forget what the outside world looks like. With our noses to the grindstone, we run around stressing about all the projects we have to do and the exams we have to study for. There is no time to stop because there is too much to get done before tomorrow comes. Long nights and short days seem to compose our existence. Food on the go, drugs to get rid of the headaches and coffee to keep us awake: the ingredients that sustain us and allow us to keep going.
Fun is fast and just as stressful as everything else. We run to the bar, grab a drink and laugh with a few friends only to come home and nearly have a heart attack over the amount of time “wasted,” when we should have been doing our homework.
What about the time spent on that long research paper? Hours are put in at the library and on the computer trying to put together the best paper ever. The professor will be in awe, we think as we staple it all together and turn it in with a feeling of pride. Then the professor hands it back with a bold “See Me!” in red letters at the top. Ouch! See what I mean? A student’s life is not fair.
Everything costs something. Want books? That will be $350, please. Copies? 10 cents. An apartment? $1,000 for a semi-decent apartment, with rat holes a little cheaper. Computer access? $25 per term. Don’t forget the zip disks, special paper, rulers and all that other stuff that your instructors insist you have. The list goes on and on. Students have to pay for practically everything, either with time, money or energy.
No, it does not seem fair that we should live this type of existence. As students, we work so hard to better ourselves and to become everything our professors require us to be. Education socializes and brainwashes us into being like everyone else. We have no originality of thought because we are all taught to do everything a certain way.
Why? Because it is the right way, we are told. All creativity is discouraged and dismissed unless it falls within the current mode of thinking or unless the professor happens to like it. We learn too late that we are unique individuals, just like everyone else in our field of study. Education beats us up, but we aggressively continue to work hard so we will find good jobs. And once we find those good jobs, we get to work the rest of our lives paying the government back for all those student loans.
Right about now, the urge to shake a fist and scream “IT’S NOT FAIR!” at full volume is overwhelming. But then a nagging inner voice whispers, “Remember, you’re the one who wanted to go to college.”
Oh yeah, I forgot about that.