Want Some Cheese with that Whine?

The author of “the good life” paints an inaccurate hyperbolic picture of Chapman University and other universities across the nation. The essay perfectly embodies a problem that is prevalent in my generation as we enter college, a lack of responsibility. The author defines “the good life” as “how one wants to live spiritually, emotionally, and ethically.” Accepting this definition, I will overwhelmingly concede that Chapman does not have any class called How to Live Your Life 101: The Spiritual, Emotional, and Ethical. However, for a student who is actively seeking guidance in these areas, Chapman has countless resources, both conventional and non-conventional.

            The author makes a false hasty generalization when she proclaims quite confidently the “All of Chapman’s classes focus towards a student’s major and not towards anything else.” While I cannot speak specifically about others, I know that Chapman has a fairly stringent GE requirement that would require anyone who wants a degree to at least dip briefly outside of their intended major. From personal experience, I strongly disagree with this generalization, since my classes this semester include English, Biology, Public Speaking, Chinese, and a freshman course on Atheism.

            But even if we concede to this generalization, the real problem is the assumption that a university has to somehow rigidly structure in time for students to ask “the big questions.” I disagree with the entire argument about leaders and thinkers made in the bloggingheads video on the grounds that you can’t really teach someone to be a freethinker anymore than you can teach them to be creative. For many people, the job of the university is to give you practical knowledge that you would not have had you not pursued a college level education. However, both the blogginghead’s video and the author of “The Good Life” create a false dichotomy of becoming either a school that poses the big questions or something resembling a trade school by not posing them in the classroom. In reality, college for many people is somewhere in the middle because students find the time to answer these big questions in their free time through other activities. A majority of your credits going towards your major would then make logical sense. If you need to be treated by a doctor, you are not really all that concerned with whether or not his college taught him how to live “the good life” but whether or not they rigorously taught him the material that allows him to save your life.

            On that note, the author says, “no matter how much formal education you get this is not a contribution that prepares you for the real world.” While I think direct examples of “real” doctors, in the “real” world, treating “real” patients, somewhat disproves this point, there are also several indirect benefits gained from the vigorous pursuit of a major. Someone who’s workload requires them to put in dozens of hours a week of study and class time will probably have a realistic understanding about the amount of work that faces them after college in the “real” world. But the author of “The Good Life” seems to have a specific opinion about the type of experience that makes you ready for the “real” world. She quotes her roommate as saying, “Our Sorority [sic] teaches us sisterhood and how to watch out for one another, along with being a lady and a useful member of society.” Ah, when I see the sorority girls at a frat party the night before midterms doing “kegstands” and “Tijuana carwashes” I think, this young lady is preparing to become a useful member of society. Now this is a hasty generalization on my part done partially out of jest, but also for hopefully eliciting strong feelings of agreement or disagreement. The fact that people can have such differing opinions on what prepares you for life after college other than academia shows just why asking the big questions and preaching “the good life” cannot be structured in a way that would be useful to the student body as a whole.

            All the opportunities to discover yourself spiritually, emotionally, and ethically exist at Chapman University. Maybe Greek life isn’t for you. No problem. The other day, as I was finishing up laundry, I was interrupted by an outburst of some 30 students who met in a lounge on their own time to play guitar and proclaim, through song, their love of God. Other times, I walk through campus and am handed flyers to meet with other students in our free time to watch films about alternative political candidates or the atrocities occurring in Northern Uganda. And of course, while walking down the sidewalk between the dorms and the cafeteria, it’s hard to ignore the countless posters about new clubs, organizations, or events that have made an appearance on the fence in past months.

            Just because a school isn’t directly telling students how they have to live their life after college does not mean that it isn’t providing all of the right tools for students to make that decision for themselves. The student population then has the fair choice to embrace all, some of, or none of these tools. However, the contention that these tools don’t even exist for students is false. The only way to truly prepare for life after college spiritually, emotionally, and ethically, is to seek your own answers and not wait around for the college to hand them to you. This immature generation has to come of age and realize that in growing up and becoming independent, the only person who can tell you how to live a fulfilling life is you.