What I perceive as the problem with "higher" education is that it consumes your life, and that you move into a bubble of a little world, and all must be as it should. I experienced that kind of thing in getting my Master's, and as others have pointed out, what you study makes a big difference. I studied Agricultural and Biological engineering (a euphamism for Farm & Stuff Engineering). Things went wrong all the time, and
reality kept you in line. All engineers go through the frustration of realizing not all theory becomes practice. Life just isn't that peachy.
Now enter the "liberal arts" (dramatic pause). They deal with things that can't blow up in the face when theory breaks down. They sit in an Ivory Tower applying their beer goggles to our reality and say "it should be so" ignoring that for whatever reason, it isn't. They don't get down in the trenches and battle test their theories, they let the rest of the world do that. I met on PhD student when I was at college that admitted she was so far in her own world, that she didn't know about the Gulf War until the fall of '92, long after it was over! Now that's isolated.
Marc's Lesson of the Day: "Reality Check 101" should be required for all majors.
Ironically enough, I dealt with these same frustrations this weekend, visiting some friends still in college. I'm really close to one of them, she's like a sister. But she has been out of the country for a while, and she was not around when I opened my eyes last January to see what state of freedom we actually live in, and our rights are being curtailed and infringed left and right. We somehow stumbled on to the topic of the guns I own where she expressed her displeasure, and how they are bad, and she doesn't think I should have them. And I tried to tell her that it's not about plinking, and just having a good time, that they are necessary for protection from bad guys. I told her the police are not there all the time, and that they make mistakes like everyone, and I showed her how dangerous it is to rely on them. The Police are great, and serve us well, but they are not everywhere. And she understood. But she insisted that permits are necessary, for all guns -to separate the Marc's from the Buford's. I knew I was in trouble then. She would not see the gov't as a potential tyranny. And I said the only thing I thought would help; I told her what was happening with the Waco case, what the Fed's had done. I told her that I was afraid of the gov't, cause they might come after me like that. I grew sad, cause I saw in her eyes that she felt I was a paranoid gun-owning freakk. Man, that hurt. I was lumped into a huge category of paranoid freaks by one of my best friends. The conversation ended at that point, as others entered the room, and then I had to go.
I had a 4 hour drive to mull this over in my head. And all I could conclude is that due to the liberal bubble that Cornell is, I couldn't expect her to understand. I'll just have to show her more facts, let her make up her own mind. If she does not become a proponent of the second amendment, at least I hope she'll see the light.
Umm...wow, I think that was my first babble session. I've seen all the TFL greats do it at some point or another
...could it be that I just went through a rite of passage on TFL?