<p>I didn't feel like reading all the posts, but I enjoyed yours. I suppose I'll be out of the norm; I'm an Asian from California, but I hang out now (finishing up my senior year of high school and ready to go to college) mostly with white kids because of my school district's lines. I don't mind either way really, as long as I'm cool with who I hang out with; and maybe those talks of classes outside of class generally don't happen, but that's not to deny they do not happen. So, I'm still optimistic (though I'm very pessimistic usually). </p>
<p>A future college student hoping for the best =)</p>
<p>Fratastic- You were voted 'Most Likely to Succeed' and seemingly enjoy that. It is obvious that you ARE part of that rushing towards money segment, and not some other portion. If you were seeking this intellectualism you would not be surrounding yourself with banker-to-be's and frat members.</p>
<p>It seems to me that you found out more about yourself(money is your driving force) than about others.</p>
<p>I actually joined just to comment on how the beginner of this post is a tool bag and also just to enlighten a few people about college and life in general.</p>
<p>If you expect college to be something more than you make of it you are wrong. The fact that you find few intellectuals is not some new development of the 21st century. I think the funniest thing I have ever seen is how confused people are about life especially when it comes to historical perspectives. First, if you go into college as premed, prelaw, or prebanking then your not going to find yourself taking intellectual classes with intellectual students. Your going to find yourself in a competition mode in which your peers that you come into contact with are not concerned about Kant or Locke but more concerned with organic chemistry or Capital Asset Pricing Model, and unfortunately there's not a lot of philosophical musings about hydrogen bonds or stock prices. </p>
<p>If you do decide to do a liberal arts major (or some form of major other than premed/prelaw/prebanking) then you will find college to be intellectually stimulating. It will also feature kids who are intelligent and know how to innovate within their studies. Maybe its because I DONT go to an ivy that I have found this, but it seems the same from what my friends tell me at the ivys.</p>
<p>Finally if you want to go on a rant about materialism and our cultures deification on money, then you at least should take a look at this from a historical perspective before you go praising shakespeare/kant/locke for living in the time of intellectual advancement. If you look at the societies from which these individuals came from, they were just as materialistic and certainly much less intellectual. England had a huge starving population with rampant poverty (I reference you to A Modest Proposal for one historical perspective). Meanwhile the consolidation of wealth in the upper class and the inability for upward mobility in the other portions of society created a very different society, but a just as materialistic one. You only need look at nations like El Salvador or other latin american struggling economies to see that its highly unlikely that intellectual giants will be able to live much less create great ideas. Finally, materialism is not bad, its just the people behind them that are usually bad. Money gives you freedom, money gives you the ability to do something more than you were able to do. In the past there were court composer, subsidized thinkers and writers who were supported in their work and studies so that money was not an issue for them. </p>
<p>If you want to be intellectual, if you want a stimulating environment, if you want college to be interesting--that will only happen if you search for that. Getting involved with professors for research, talking to other kids at school about topics that interest you and taking initiative to do something about it, or maybe just write something yourself. If you need others to stimulate you then you won't ever get anywhere in life. Overall, as everyone says college is what you make of it, but more so, life is what you make of it. So make alot of money and then use it to make the world and society the way you want it to be....... instead of whining to kids about how everyone is materialistic and dullards.</p>
<p>Oh and for the kid who started that post. I hope I don't meet you in the banking industry at some point..... cause you already have proven to me you lack the mental capabilities for any job.</p>
<p>Oh please. I go to college, too, and nothing he said was 100% false...and you people know it. He might not be preaching the gospel, but come on. </p>
<p>I go to a big state uni and people do tend to hang out with their own kind. That much is true.</p>
<p>My college isn't really known for anything, but we do have one of the top business schools in the country and that's what I'd say 70% of the students are here for. People do want to go into Business so they can make money. No one wants to study to be smart, to have wisdom to pass on to their kids. People just want to come out of college at 22 or 23 and by age 26 pull down six figures, live in a big house, and drive a big, nice car. No one wants to work and no one likes to work. Work is supposed to build character and ethics. Fulfilling the obligations you think will get you a lot of money is just that. You can still be just as dumb and shallow and useless to the world REGARDLESS if you have a lot of money or went to an expensive college.</p>
<p>Yea he says what america is today is what it has always been just without the huge amount of college students.... people have always worked to earn money to live life..... regardless of whether they work to make 30k a year or 1mil a year. I don't really know what you or anyone else is whining about to be honest. Yea lots of people go to business school because the labor market rewards that segment with a net pay of over 6 figures your first year. That's what markets are about.... if you reward people alot, there will be a large amount of supply.... college then becomes a place to weed people out, rank them, rate them, and assign a value. If you have a better system than the current market capitalism that works I would like to hear it, but whining about the fact that people want to make money is just stupid.
But yea I have met quite a few science/english/philo/theo majors who do not want to make money, but want to do research/missionary work/grad school.... i guess at my school theres alot more of these kids than at other places i guess??
Oh and if u felt college was going to be some Good Will Hunting intellectual world of discovery and philosophical debates, then someone should have given you a reality check alot earlier.... lol</p>
<p>I agree with the self segragation bit, it's rather true at my school (though it tends to be by race, not interest...my group of friends, for intstance, is not particuarly racially diverse, but we have a gov major who wants to be a politician, a, a pre-med kid, a religion major who wants to be a UU minister or high school teacher, a potential music/physics/Aferican Studies major, etc.).</p>
<p>HOWEVER, the rest of it does not hold true for my college experance. I mean, sure, college is not all intellectual conversation all the time...my friends spend plenty of time chilling out, playing video games, going to parties, having random conversations about non-intellectual things. But sometimes a two hour conversation about my religion class (4 kids on the hall are in it) randomly pops up...and it's not because we are trying to figure out how to get a good grade. Or we stand around in the bathroom at 3 in the morning debating the artistic marits of Spiderman 3 (and with two potential film majors in the room, that's an intellectual converastion for sure).</p>
<p>I only know one person who wants to be a doctor (to help people), and one who might want to be a lawyer (only because he can't think of anything else at this point, not for money...but he's only a freshmen, so who knows!). </p>
<p>The point is: college is different for everyone, and my experiance is nothing like yours. Part of it might be the campus I'm on...people who can get into Wes can genrally also get into a very good more mainstream/career oriented school, if that's what they are looking for. But part of it is the enviorment you make for yourself.</p>
<p>Why should people change their "spots" just because they go to college? If someone is inclined towards intellectual/philosophical discussion, then take that class and change your circle of friends. Its that simple.</p>
<p>Colleges are microcosms of society....except of course at Vanderbilt! LOL. Just had to get in that dig. Vandy is "girls with pearls and boys with toys", I am told. (I dont know, I didnt go there and neither do my kids.)</p>
<p>In the 60's and 70's, studying business was looked down upon as dorky and a "Lesser Form of Study." Today, it is king. Society is more greedy today than it has ever been. Success is measured today by what you own and drive, not what you are inside as a human being. Is it any wonder people are turned off by Nietzsche, Kant, Santayana etc?</p>
<p>Though it should be heralded from the tops of all university bell towers: Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense, former Director of Central Intelligence earned a B.A in History at William and Mary, an M.A. in History at Indiana University, and a PhD in Russian History and Studies at Georgetown. My point? He is not an investment banker. Think about it.</p>