How to Handle College

The title of this blog post is extremely decieving. The truth of the matter is, that I cannot tell you how to handle college. There is no way to truly conquer college. The further along we get, the more overwhelmed we feel. We, as students, need to stop letting college control us and take control of it ourselves.

Through piles of papers including graded mid-terms, short responses, PDF files, textbooks, notes over absolutely everything imaginable...we look down at our piles of stress and become overwhelmed. It's hard not to be.

At the end of the day, though, we make it through. The only way to make it through is to not let college get the best of you.

There are a few tips to help you (from an honest to God college student who knows from experience)

First and foremost, discipline YOURSELF. You don't have mom and dad around now to tell you what to do. If you have a paper to write, do it. Don't procrastinate (although, this is quite unrealistic if we're being honest). Don't go out with your friends or watch movies or go shopping...don't do any of it until that paper is written.

You're not in college to go to parties. And if you are, I feel bad for you. You are not paying all of this money to go out and make bad decisions (which you are bound to do it you party regularly). Sure, it's fun to go out with friends sometimes...but this cannot be anywhere near the top of your priority list.

Plan ahead. Keep track of your time. Write everything down somewhere. If you write it down, you're more likely to get it done. It's true!

Take as many classes as you can that interest you. I know we all are forced into taking specific (non-major) classes always, but try to aim for classes you think you may get the most from rather than classes that you heard are easy.

For the love of God, go to class. Don't be THAT person. THAT person doesn't get anywhere in the world. Although in come classes, showing up may seem pointless, it's better than anything else you were most likely going to do (sleep...watch TV...etc.) At least it's something. It makes you look better to professors and keeps you ahead of the game. It also makes you used to actually having to commit to something in your future lives.

Take life day by day. Meaning, don't stress too much about the mid-term next week. Focus on that quiz tomorrow in class, or that paper due Friday. Focusing on the "now" can help you do better in the "later".

And finally, BREATHE.

This is life. You're living life, and this is all apart of it. I promise you there are worse things than getting a C on that quiz. There are worse things than having  a professor write bad comments on a paper. Life goes on. You will pick yourself up, you have to...otherwise you will never succeed.

Once again, don't let college control you. You control IT.

Where's the Humanities?

Having experienced my first few years of college as an English major in the Arts and Humanities field, I’ve come to realize a lot about the state of our education system. Young people are no longer learning to learn, they are learning to get rich. It’s not anyone’s fault, it’s just the way we’ve been raised. The center of our ideals in this country is money. How much money we need to make to be successful, to keep in our social class, etc. Everyone wants the ideal life with a good job, earning a good salary. Whatever happened to doing what you love?

I’ll tell you what happened, technology.

I don’t mean to be another one of those people that rant about the state of our country and how technology is scary, vast, and a huge monster that we are all to fear…but it sort of is if you think about it.
Technology is something you cannot live with, but cannot live without—one of those deals.

More and more young adults are going into business fields, technology fields, etc. and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. I am willing to bet, however, that if you go and ask these young adults what they truly want to be that they are not going to say “I’ve always wanted to be an accountant!”

Why can’t we all just stick to what we wanted to be when we were 7? I wanted to be a ballerina, a car washer, and one of the people that fills up cups of pop at McDonalds. Those were my aspirations. Life would be a lot easier if I could do those things and be happy doing them. As I grew up, I realized that these things are not realistic if I want to be “successful” as it was laid out for me.

Back to the point.

Arts and Humanities may not mean much to some people and a lot of readers may be scratching their head or rolling their eyes, asking why? What’s the point?

I’ll tell you what the point is…the illiteracy rate in this country is at 44 million people. Where will these unfortunate people end up I ask myself. Who isn’t doing their job?

It would be easy to simply blame the government or the school systems, but we need to take a long hard look at ourselves and our own priorities. Each year the humanities and arts lose more and more students at the university level.

Reading and writing allow people to use a part of their brain that they may not have known existed before. Expanding vocabulary, learning the proper way to speak, and communication skills are few of the great benefits of reading and writing. The writing curriculum at the college level is a disgrace in itself. We are not doing enough to better ourselves by just getting a degree in something that will make us money. There is nothing wrong with people who do this, but there is something frighteningly wrong with people who do not believe that reading and writing is important. Which is it. It is a fundamental  key to the growth of the human being.

Libraries are shutting down, programs are being cut, for what reason? Kids simply don’t care anymore about those things. They would rather get on their iPhone or turn on their Xbox or get on their blog (har har har) than actually pick up a book and read it.

Reading and writing just simply are not important anymore, in turn making the entire realm of Arts and Humanities studies seemingly irrelevant to most people.

People are trying so very hard to keep kids interested in things other than television and their smart phones. JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series reawakened a love for storytelling and millions around the world began to read again. Even books like Twilight (eek) were able to get people reading again. While it may all seem childish and silly, it is getting kids reading again, and that is what is important.

So where is the humanities, we ask. If we look deep down, below the new, shiny, geometrical buildings and into the depths of the hundred year old basement we can find a group of dusty old Shakespeare plays just waiting to be opened, and a small group of people who are willing to risk their financial status in order to better enrich their own lives