In true senior fashion, I recently got into an argument about college. Though my discussion was far from the typical “this-school-is-sooooo-much-better-than-that-school” topic, the theme of my conversation brought up the same amount of passion and frustration, all starting from this one simple question: why do you actually want to go to college? 

My friend’s response yielded an extremely understandable opinion, arguing that “college is just for fun, not for learning. I just kinda just need to go.” And I completely see where this answer is coming from. We live in a world where without a college degree, most traditional high-earning jobs won’t even look twice at the most qualified candidates, so it’s understandable why this ever-growing idea that receiving a college education is the only path to success exists. 

With this much pressure to succeed, college feels like the perfect middle step to transition from our high school bubbles to the scary adult world waiting for us on the other side. And, I definitely think that if we use our college education correctly, it’ll 110% help us find this success we’re looking for. But that’s just it. Because we’ve been conditioned to chase success in the form of a college degree, students lug their way through classes, sitting through their lectures uninspired and bored, gathering just enough information to get them by. 

This is where my argument started: I wholeheartedly believe that with the privilege of a college education, you should be there to learn and become consumed in everything your major has to offer. 

I’m excited to go to college because I get to learn from hundreds of students across the nation that are as invested in the humanities as I am, and I’m able to sit in lectures from professors who dedicated their life to Comparative Literature. How I’m so ready to read the hand-selected books my professor gives us, ready to discuss what I believe the true meaning of each plot with my peers. I’m even excited to take classes outside of my intended major to try and find ways of connecting STEM courses to the English classes I’m taking. Because by taking advantage of every learning opportunity I get, I’ll be able to find my definition of success: creating opportunities in ways that make me feel alive. Learning makes me feel alive. 

I’m not saying that I’ll spend the next four years in full Hermione Granger fashion, and finding a good balance between schoolwork is something that I won’t struggle with at first, but I know that regardless of everything else, the education is why I’ll choose the college I attend and the reason I choose to stay. 

If anything, my Parker education has truly taught me how important the environment you surround yourself with is. I need to be surrounded by people who crave learning and get completely invested in their classes. Because without the little moments of Davu and Warner shouting at each other during Mr. Bigelow’s Meeting of the Minds debates, and the depth of Izzy’s spoken personal essay during Mr. Laufer’s final, I wouldn’t have truly discovered my love for learning. 

I really believe that it’s the people who create the environment, and filling our classrooms with driven people that share my passion for learning is how we’ll find this success we’ve been chasing. Which is why I’m nervous that as time progresses and college acceptance rates approach zero, people will start pursuing topics that “look good” on an application instead of spending their time learning what actually makes them happy. 

Though I partially blame the American school system for tricking people into believing a college degree is the only way to succeed, I fully blame each student that’s knowingly sitting uninspired and bored in the back of their college classrooms, and taking on mountains of debt for the purpose of adding a bullet point to their resume. I’m nervous that as we’re slowly reaching the crossroads of uninterested students and a college-centered, white-collar job mentality, we’ll be left with nothing but watered down institutions, burnt out students, and uninspiring Ivy-League graduates.