I'm so ashamed to go to the same school as people who are so ignorant. I was sitting in the dining hall when I overheard this conversation. "One of my classmates was so annoying. I hate it when people have political opinions. This boy, girl, at [insert school name] you can never tell. It. " Who calls a person it? We are all human beings. I had the strong impulse to turn around and punch them in the face. I resisted this impulse. I then had the strong impulse to say "it's they. The gender neutral pronoun is they!" Seriously though, why is it that people in college are so stupid? I'm beginning to think education is just a waste of time to an extent.
Unfortunately, I get the impression that the problem isn't really ignorance but a lack of empathy. It still is possible that people with a university education make really hurtful jokes, not because they don't know better but because they don't care. In that sense, education about sensitive issues isn't always going to fix a person's lack of empathy. Was that you they were talking about? If it is, I'm really sorry :-(
Oftentimes, the effect of a college education and exposure to new social ideas doesn't kick in until later in college, or even after college. Many people will go to college having never really experienced life outside of their hometowns, and possibly not seriously outside the social and political circles that their families place them in. On the other hand, as far as thinking education is a waste of time - perhaps you're not meshing well with your school, or you're not seeing a lot of purpose to your classes or your major. Maybe you should consider something different - or even, if it's possible, take some time off from school and look for more direction in life, before returning.
Well, what I really want to do is transfer to a different school. To do that I have to do well at this school though. I definitely feel like I don't fit in at my current school. I feel like the majority of people here are loud but not very open minded. I miss my high school where there was always a mix of people. There were of course the ones who were homophobic and the ones who were not at all interested in intellectual pursuits but then there were also the really interesting intelligent ones. I feel like all of the "types" of people that I wish I could be around ended up in different schools. Because colleges kind of sort people based off of their intelligence. I'm now surrounded by people of the same intelligence level as me and it's quite unflattering. I just hate being reminded that these people have about the same IQ as me. That's what I prefer about high school. We're kind of all in the same place. But colleges only want to sort. I guess I don't entirely like how colleges work. I hate how people are judged by their IQ and I hate how high school becomes this thing where people have to do all of these things so they can have a profile of themselves that appeals to colleges. It feels like people are less interested in acquiring knowledge and more interested in forcing themselves into a cookie cutter version of what a college wants. And then after college it's what a company wants. I feel like life is made into this never ending game of pretending to be something to get what you want. But money is necessary. I value education in theory it's just that I don't feel like college is where I want to be. I actually wish that I could just get a job somewhere now and pursue intellectual pursuits on my own time, but I don't know that I would have enough time to do that, and I don't want to be viewed as a lower member of society for not having a degree. Also, the majority of the people I know in my personal life who didn't graduate college are not exactly intelligent. There are of course exceptions. One is highly intelligent actually. He's resourceful enough to always find work even though he doesn't have a degree, but I don't feel like I want to gamble and go his route. He's also good with people. He's tall and physically strong so people don't mess with him. I need a degree to protect me lol. I can't risk going into shady businesses because I'm not physically sharp enough to protect myself adequately. I know I'm off topic here but your comment made me want to rant about what I dislike about college. When I was in high school I was really looking forward to college because I wanted to be able to focus more on subjects I'm interested in instead of having to take a bunch of core classes. But my high school teachers were much better than my college professors. I expected that college professors would treat us with respect because we are adults paying to be taught by them but they don't. Instead they treat us like middle or high school students. I had this idea that in college people would be sitting around, eyes a light with interest in intellectual pursuits, discussing philosophy just for the fun of it, talking about books not just for the grades. I thought professors would be composed and organized, like my best teachers in high school or better, because they are paid more after all. I also thought, considering my school advertises itself as being liberal and accepting, that it would be liberal and accepting. Instead, the majority of the student body are conformists, and the ones who are unique or queer or part of a racial minority, are paraded around and put on pamphlets for incoming freshman to see, talked kindly to to their face and then laughed at behind their backs. It all feels like a gigantic scam. I just feel so disillusioned because I always thought that college would be the one place that I would feel like I belonged.
I'm not so sure you got off topic after all - it sounds like you have a lot of thoughts to get out about what you're experiencing right now. One thing that sticks out to me is that you feel as if a lot of this reflects back on who you are as a person - at the "wrong" college, so not intelligent. Around people you don't like, so must be as unintelligent as they are. Don't like college but need a degree, otherwise you'll be viewed as a "lower member of society." The thing is, every college, no matter how prestigious, has its share of students who struggle, students who are less open minded than others, students who do really well, and students who are active and engaging with people and things around them. If you want to transfer to a different school, then you should look into transferring - but my suspicion is you'll find that these concerns follow you to that school, as well. My suggestion would be to focus on why you think you feel this way - that you're powerless to escape or transcend the environment you find yourself in. You could also make it a goal to start reaching out and seeing if you can find others like you on campus - maybe a student organization, a research group/project, or some way to become active politically, either on campus or in the surrounding city. It might not be a bad idea to look into counseling resources on campus either - if your impression of yourself is really negative, it will hold you back from a lot of things. A counselor could help you figure out why that is happening, and what to do about it.
