This Blog Is Not About College

Yes!  This blog is not about college.  It is about art museums.

Are art museums good things?  They are places where the general public can come and admire embodiments of beauty and exemplars of human aesthetic accomplishment.  Visitors can view at least copies of the prides of their civilizations, and come within inches of milestones in history.  They can travel the world and learn about other cultures through what they consider beautiful, and about what they considered important enough to paint or sculpt, and what they thought worthy of special adornment.  Windows through time and space revealing human meaning hardly seems negative.

But one should consider the role these museums play in their societies.  The idea that one can compile a representative collection of beauty and place it between walls, under a roof, crammed between similar replicas, sounds rather less appealing.  Who gives these institutions monopoly over what is art?  Who can justify limiting beauty to man-made creations?  Who can truly say that placing opus beside opus beside opus does not diminish the impact of each one?  The quiet halls of museums stifle expressions of delight and emotion connection, while shepherding viewers from piece to piece with an air of cool, systematic appreciation.  Is it really a place to admire beauty – or just narrow collection granting its visitors the same narrow vision with the paradoxical air of “culture?”

Wanna get away?

It sounds great: see your potential college choice, learn the fun things about a faraway place, spend some time away from work…  But American culture strikes again!  While traveling is often romanticized, the reality is that “getting away” requires much more than just taking a train.  The relentless pace of everyday life keeps tasks mounting, and a results-oriented American attitude means that all of it – all of it – has to be “made up” as soon as possible.  If the purpose of an activity were only growth, experience, and personal edification, then it would be enough to demonstrate mastery of the material, and it would not matter that the traveler never wrote a full research report, or answered the preliminary worksheet questions.  Americans need tangible proof of accomplishment.  If that means doubling or tripling effort to “compensate for lost time,” then that is the expectation.  There is no value given to the trip itself, or the experience and growth that came from that.  All that matters is that tasks were not completed.

The American expectation is particularly destructive when assignments are due online at a certain time.  Regardless of location or obligation, there is a general feeling that these tasks should be inescapable.  Instead of allowing the traveler to absorb the opportunities of exploration and discovery, or even just the benefits of relaxation, American society interjects its demands into the trip.  And as much as many criticize American society, those that live within it are subject to its rules. 

Wait—Look!

After the drama of university applications and wave of college decisions comes the vexing choice between institutions, which America considers the decision between possible futures.  The weight this choice carries and the factors used to determine the “best answer” reveal the views and values of American society. 

Parents want the best for their children, and press for the most prestigious option, revealing the thought that success leads to happiness, and name-brand universities substantially improve one’s chances for it.  Another crucial factor is price; parents favor sending their children to schools that will cost less money.  It seems logical that people would prefer to spend less money than spend more money, but what happened to “getting what you pay for” and “splurging for quality?”  People will pay the extra money to buy a sophisticated speaker system, or a top-of-the-line phone, or the nicest car they can afford, or that house they have really had their eye on.  If college is so crucial, why should the same logic not apply?  What makes spending extra thousands on a car or a house a better idea than spending that extra money on their child’s education, particularly given the belief that the choice will have an important bearing on the child’s future?

Of all the reasons to choose a college, the most celebrated is the concept of “fit:” the most academic and nurturing school that students feel at home in.  Of all the ways to determine fit, the most celebrated is a college visit.  Seeing the college for oneself, to view the buildings, sit in on classes, speak to current students, eat the food, and generally absorb the atmosphere is an excellent idea.  While fit plays into the American value of customization and the idea that there exists a single ideal that is perfect for each person, it also recognizes the importance of college as an experience instead of just as a means to an end.  Furthermore, it recognizes that some aspects of a place cannot be understood from a pamphlet, and that what seems incredible to one person, may not have the same effect on another.  So while some aspects of the college decision process reveal negative aspects of American culture, others demonstrate its strengths.

Do You Want It Fast, Or Do You Want It Done Right?

There is nothing new in the idea that Americans value efficiency and productivity, and that they prioritize the final product over the experience of its creation and anything learned in the process.  But the ideals of America have successfully wooed its people, many of whom hold a romanticized notion of their country.  How do Americans reconcile efficiency at any cost with the lofty ideals they not only attribute to the United States, but verbally and ardently defend?

The stereotypical US ideal is the American dream in which any decent, hard-working person can rise to the upper-middle class and live the cookie-cutter life of material fulfillment.  However, there are numerous romanticized illusions far less precisely defined, but far more systemic.  Whether celebrating nationalism, or exerting influence in foreign lands, Americans frequently tout the indelible moral rectitude of a fully-functional democracy.  A “government of the people, by the people, for the people” means ordinary Americans listening to the wills of the masses and prioritizing public desires over personal interest.  Even pure statistics disband this notion: the population is 66% white, the senate is 94%; the population is 13% black, the senate is 1%; only 17 out of 100 senators are women; the majority of senators and other congressional workers come from the top 2% of American wealth.  There has never been a minor-party president.  The two-party system forcibly polarizes the population, making Americans choose between only two rigid – and sometimes fanatical – policy packages in order to have a voice in government at all.  Yet despite clear evidence to the contrary, and hastily redirected public frustration, people cling to the notion of America as the ideal democracy.

If Americans are so excited about their national and personal virtue, why are they so willing to sacrifice it at the alter of expedience.  123helpme.com, englishessays.org, i-termpaper.com, bookrags.com, even websites with obviously condemning URLS like echeat.com; simply type “[subject] essay” into Google and the number of websites offering cheap, prewritten essays and term-papers is astounding.  Is it disgustingly dishonest cheating?  Yes.  Is it illegal?  Yes.  Does it rob you of all possible personal growth in the assignment?  Yes.  But these websites would not exist, especially in such numbers, if the “solution” was not so popular.  How does a nation so enamored with its own superiority (the greatest country in the world) trash morals and benefits alike for the simple chance to make a task easier?