I know I'm good for it. It's not the work that intimidates me - academics have always come pretty easily to me. It's just the combination of the other issues that concern me. First off, it's a major commitment to several more years as a student, which I find a bit wearing. Second, finding a topic I care enough about to write an entire thesis on would be a challenge. Number three, however, is the big one. Often times, lately, I wonder if there's any point to the field of Higher Education and all of the work that we do as administrators. I've spent hours upon hours of the last 2 years of my life learning to be culturally competent, how to counsel and communicate effectively with students to teach them to, in turn, become culturally sensitive and competent people. But the more I interact with the average college student of 2008, the less I think we have an impact.
Today's college students are different than those I graduated with 5 years ago. The Millenial generation has given way to another breed of student that I'm not sure I can even comprehend, let alone foster growth in. The children of the late-cycle Baby Boomers are self-involved, self-important, and have zero social skills. Many of them don't understand the concepts of work ethic or compassion, respect or value. One might argue that, because everything they could possibly need is in their dorm rooms (fridge, plasma tv, high speed computer, cell phone, instant messenger, library interface) or can be delivered (pizza, laundry, and even online classes) they don't ever have to interact with another human being live-action. They view everything as negotiable. Americans like to pretend that college is about "getting a good education", but really, it's about "getting a good socialization". Teens might pick a school based on academics, but what they actually learn is how to be a productive person that lives in the world. When I pull up a mental image of today's college sophomore, sometimes I actually picture those little monsters from the Lamisil commercial, running around screaming
How am I supposed to be prepared to devote another 4 years of my life studying how to improve the educational and social environment for a bunch of 20 year old terrorists who care about nothing? I don't see college students protesting or advocating for change. I don't see them having debates about politics. I don't see them really engaging in anything more significant than Britney Spears'** latest antics or who was on American Idol last night. They live in a world of fast-cutting, transitory elements, and I feel like they have very, very, very little in touch with reality. I see almost nothing of my college self in them anymore. Maybe after (barely) surviving 8 years of George W. Bush's America - an America he stole - I've become incurably cynical. I'm not sure if this is the case, but at any rate, I have serious doubts as to whether or not this population is worth investing anther 4 years of my life into. I don't know who to blame for them - parents? George Bush? Bill Clinton? The pop-music phenomena? TMZ? - but I do know that I have very serious reservations about what happens when they grow up to be in charge of the development of others.
Is this a person who really should be going for a Doctorate in educational administration and psychology - someone whose faith in the process is quickly waning? Maybe I should switch it up and go to Vet Tech school instead. Dogs and cats still have some humanity left in them. Now isn't that ironic?
** This front-page article in the latest issue of Rolling Stone titled "The Tragedy of Britney Spears" was something I found really interesting in relation to the phenomenon of today's societal values.
No comments:
Post a Comment