# Why are these people at college? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 17, 2002, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-people-at-college/143313 "2002-12-17T12:28:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-people-at-college/143313/21 "2002-12-17T16:44:43Z")
**seal\_clubber** (great name, btw) has it right. Just because people party as a freshman doesn’t mean they don’t turn out fine in the end. The only final I distinctly remember was a history final I took 1st semester of my freshman year, drunk off my ass. I don’t know how I did on it, but I made a C in the class (first time in my life I’ve ever made C’s in school). But I graduated after 4 1/2 years, working 30 hours a week at the same time almost every year, was married my sophomore year and got a job three months after I graduated. The job I still have six years later, I might add, with a major corporation working as a mainframe programmer. Sure, it’s not President of the United States, but what can I say, I’m not even old enough. 🙂 So, despite a poor first semester (I was on scholarship probation and had to pay for my second freshman semester out of my own money - my parents sure weren’t going to pay for my choices), I managed to get out of there learning something and with skills someone was willing to hire me for. Don’t knock those other kids just because they’re not as serious as you. They just might be your boss some day. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-people-at-college/143313/22 "2002-12-17T16:58:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RealityChuck \* > \*\*. > > **KarlGrenze** – you are woefully missing the point. The main purpose of the course is to teach you to _think_. That’s more important than learning a subject, and if you have to sit through courses you don’t like in order to do that, tough. \*\* Yes, I know the purpose is to teach me to think… Although that’s also assuming that I don’t know how to do that. Which would be a contradiction to saying I got into college because I proved I had a minimum of brain cells thinking. Anyways, I know that’s the purpose. It doesn’t stop me from thinking “Why the hell do I have to learn this?” and “What purpose will that serve later in my life?”…because really, the way some classes are taught, even if the purpose is to think, they barely accomplish that. ---
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-people-at-college/143313/23 "2002-12-17T17:32:49Z")
My $.02 here: I understand exactly where the OP is coming from, as I had a similar reaction in college. I attended a “party” school. Most of my classmates were rich kids who had to wait 4 years before going into Daddy’s business. Or young women panting for their MRS. degree. The arty crowd (which I was a part of) were, in my eyes, the only bastion of intelligence outside the classroom. My youthful arrogance was a direct response to what I saw on campus. In fact, the more partying/sleeping around/whatever I saw, the more I buried my nose in my books. My thinking went, _Well, they might be having all the fun, but I’m the only one who’ll graduate summa cum laude and attend grad school…_ I’ve always believed in “education for education’s sake”. Evidently that way of thinking is more and more difficult to find, as the OP certainly attests. I’ve never had anything against the “hearty partiers” and such. But it’s difficult maintaining some semblance of idealism in such an atmosphere… ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-people-at-college/143313/24 "2002-12-17T17:53:18Z")
> [@](#): > > _From Ferris Bueller’s Day Off:_ > > \*\*JEANIE > You really want to know what’s wrong? > > ``` > The boy shrugs. > > JEANIE > all right. If you've got the time, > I've got the troubles. In a nutshell, > I hate my brother. How's that? > > BOY > That's cool. Did you shoot him or > something? > > JEANIE > No, not yet. > > The boy nods. He understands the emotion. > > JEANIE > I went home to confirm that the > shithead was ditching school and > a guy broke into the house and I > called the cops and they picked me > up for making a phony phone call. > > BOY > What do you care if your brother > ditches school? > > Jeanie stares at the boy. > > JEANIE > Why should he get to ditch school > when everybody else has to go? > > BOY > You could ditch. > > JEANIE > I'd get caught. > > BOY > So, you're pissed at him because > he ditches and doesn't get caught? > > JEANIE > Basically. > > The boy nods knowingly. > > BOY > Then your problem is you. > > JEANIE > Excuse me? > > BOY > Excuse you. You oughta spend a little > more time dealing with yourself and > a little less time worrying about > what your brother does. It's just > an opinion. > > Jeanie stares angrily at him. Partly because he's so bold > and partly because he's so right.** > > ``` ---
**Author:** ![Akatsukami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea666f/32.png) [@Akatsukami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akatsukami)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-people-at-college/143313/25 "2002-12-17T19:00:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by KarlGrenze \* > **Is it really that important for me to know what’s the velocity of an electron travelling between to plates that form a magnetic field? Or the angle of deflection of said electron? Will that help me in my future career?** No, but it will help prevent you from wasting the money that you earn in that career on useless lead aprons to protect yourself from the non-existent radiation that your CRT is alleged to spew. ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-people-at-college/143313/26 "2002-12-17T19:45:13Z")
> [@](#): > > Well, they might be having all the fun, but I’m the only one who’ll graduate summa cum laude and attend grad school… When did you realize that some of those partiers were also graduating summa cum laude and attending grad school? Note: I didn’t graduated cum laude and I didn’t go to grad school (my choice, I’ve never tried to go). ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-people-at-college/143313/27 "2002-12-17T20:28:07Z")
I agree that having fun/partying and maintaining schoolwork/learning are not mutually exclusive. I may only be upgrading but right now I am managing to maintain an 85% average, work and party. (I plan to go into Honors courses at Uni next September) **Dunmurry** if they bother you so much _don’t hang out with them._ I am certain you could find people who feel the same around your college, there may be a number of partiers but there are also those who take everything extremely seriously. I personally have managed to balance it all more or less. I get my fix of partying and I let my seriousness have reign when it is merited. You don’t need to be a total partier or a total booknerd, perhaps the others haven’t realized that. Or perhaps you just keep catching them at their party times rather than their serious ones. ---
**Author:** ![Daowajan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@Daowajan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daowajan)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-people-at-college/143313/28 "2002-12-17T22:50:14Z")
First, a tangent. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Harmonix \* > \*\*Don’t you think you’re a exagerating a wee bit? The english part may be true, but barely knowing algebra? \*\* _raises hand_ I’m a sophomore in college, and I know absolutely nothing about algebra. I’ve never even seen the inside of an Algebra II or trig textbook. I am not proud of this, and I’m taking a non-credit remedial math class next semester so it doesn’t keep on biting me in the ass for the rest of my academic life. Many high schools, especially private ones, are judged by the percent of the graduating class that goes on to college. To keep it as high as possible, some of them have begun doing some rather unscrupulous-seeming things… such as passing students who absolutely failed algebra up to geometry with a gentleman’s D, filling the science curriculum with super-easy, no-math-whatsoever earth science classes, and having a required “third year of advanced math” class called **Advanced Concepts in Mathematics** which is a review of the pre-algebra stuff everyone should have known in 7th grade. As happened to me. According to my high school counselor, having “Advanced Concepts in Mathematics” on my transcript would trick a college into thinking I had taken trig. I’m not saying every high school does this, but many find it easier to just shuttle the kids on out of there than to fix any real problems they might have. My HS also did something very similar with the English classes. The kids in the basic English classes read maybe two books a year, and made powerpoint group presentations instead of writing essays about them, although there wasn’t an English class you could take that would trick a college into thinking you knew what you were doing. To the OP: Quite frankly, your classmates’ study and schooling habits are none of your business. For all you may know, they might be communally whining immediately after class, but then putting in overtime on whatever the assignment is. Hey, they come to class. A _real_ childish student will be utterly perplexed at the responsibilities needed to function in college - they’ll skip classes they may need to attend, they’ll get caught buying papers off [schoolsucks.com](http://schoolsucks.com) out of desperation, they’ll expect the school to play the role of a second parent, they’ll be horribly inconsiderate dorm-mates, and they’ll take semesters off to relax. I’ve done maybe half those things. Are they freshmen? That could be your entire reason right there. I fail to see how they’re standing in your way or holding you back. Looks like they’re just being mildly irritating. If they were getting the professor to soften up the curriculum because they complain it’s too difficult, then there might be cause for concern. You want to acquire the skills and thought process necessary to invent something or do something cool? You wanna make something of yourself? You wanna change the world? Do it. Focus on your own education, and let everyone else do what they want with theirs. And as a final note, don’t turn up your nose and cut off the slackers completely. My best friend from my last school was someone I initially looked at and thought “Man, this loser just hangs around and watches cartoons all day.” Once I got to know him better, I found out that he was a musical genius. I mean the kid plays piano at the composer level - but I didn’t find this out until we started shooting the bull out of boredom, and the conversation got around to his favorite subject (music.) ---
**Author:** ![Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/2bfe46/32.png) [@Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xavier)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-people-at-college/143313/29 "2002-12-17T23:22:34Z")
I completely agree with you. I am very wormish wen it cumes to boowkes. I have avergae goowd graydes, and am top wen it comes to exerting physical. > [@](#): > > \*\*nineiron: \*\* Well, I wouldn’t have put it quite that way, but it’s true. I’ve had many students who want to hang around with the teachers because it makes them feel older or more mature. All we really want is 30 minutes a day to have adult conversations without students around. Your teachers probably don’t come up to students while they’re hanging around or eating, so students should give them the same benefit of being with peers for a bit. Understand that they were merely being polite by letting you stick around while they eat. Believe me; you aren’t their peer. Now, you may be a pleasant lunch companion (I’m sure you are, in fact), but the teachers deserve some quality non-student time in their day. You probaly don’t have twelvish years teaching in your behind like me do. ---
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-people-at-college/143313/30 "2002-12-18T00:24:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DeadlyAccurate \* > \*\*When did you realize that some of those partiers were also graduating summa cum laude and attending grad school? > Note: I didn’t graduated cum laude and I didn’t go to grad school (my choice, I’ve never tried to go). \*\* Nobody. Only one other person from my graduating class went to grad school – actually, law school. She’s an assistant D.A. I graduated cum laude. ---
**Author:** ![nineiron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e56c9b/32.png) [@nineiron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nineiron)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-people-at-college/143313/31 "2002-12-18T03:56:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Xavier \* > \*\*I completely agree with you. I am very wormish wen it cumes to boowkes. I have avergae goowd graydes, and am top wen it comes to exerting physical. > > You probaly don’t have twelvish years teaching in your behind like me do. \*\* 😕 ---
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-people-at-college/143313/32 "2002-12-18T04:10:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by nineiron \* > \*\*😕 \*\* Good – I’m not the only one! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Melandry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Melandry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melandry)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-people-at-college/143313/33 "2002-12-18T04:35:25Z")
It’s certainly not the most reasonable or least elitist of feelings in the world, but it can be very hard to show up at college, having been told or expecting that this isn’t for everybody, like high school, but rather for those of above-average intelligence who wish to continue their studies, and discover that no, college is, as **DeadlyAccurate** noted, for everyone now. It can be pretty easy to feel resentful when you think “I worked my butt off to get in here and _those people_ got in too?” Again, it’s a pretty elitist sentiment which hopefully will be outgrown, but I empathize. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-people-at-college/143313/34 "2002-12-19T07:24:23Z")
**Melandry** , would you be willing to email me? My address is in my profile. ---
**Author:** ![CRorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CRorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CRorex)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-people-at-college/143313/35 "2002-12-19T17:59:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dunmurry \* > **I don’t want to turn this into a rant, but I am tired of some people I go to college with. > It’s their ATTITUDE. > To come to my college, people choose to come to study after their compulsory schooling, therfore they are not under obligation to come.**[/q] > > Nor are they under any obligation to behave how you want them to. > > [q]\*\* > Many students are over 18, hence they are considered adults, however their attitude appears not to have changed since their childhood. > I have got good examination results, and am perceived to be more “serious” than the rest of them. Many others students are in a “gang” with common things e.g. they all wear the same clothes. I prefer to be on my own, as the people in the gangs talk about futile things such as who won a football match or which girl on television last night was sexiest.\*\*[/q] > > Unfortunatly you’ll soon find out that the world is made up of people who enjoy hanging out with other people who share the same interets as they do. And I know you won’t believe me, but there is nothing more pathetic than seeing the various PIs in my field who focus solely on their careers and cut everything out of their lives but science. Yes, some of them have good careers and are well respected leaders in their field. They are also all divorced, have drinking problems and spend 80 hrs a week in the lab. There is a HUMAN element to life that we all need. > > [q]\*\* > I want to do something for which I will be remembered. I want to offer something to the world,to discovers something, to invent something, yet I am being held back by these people. When Iwas at my last school, I spent lunchtimes with teachers in their rooms because I preferrred the conversations aduilts have as opposed to the things people my own age talked about.[/q]\*\* > > This is one of the saddest things I’ve seen on the boards. Yes I understand that people need motivation to accomplish things in their lives. But doing something simple in an attempt to become famous rarely works out. More often than not it ends in dissappointment, bitterness and suicide. There is more to life than to simply become recognized. What are you going to do after you make your ‘contribution’. Will 1 be enough? What if it isn’t of the magnitude of what you wanted. What if you never achive it? > > I’ve met a number of failed graduate students, and PhDs who are on their way to becomming Burger King shift managers who have that attitude. Scientific discovery isn’t about accomplishing anything. It’s about asking a question and poking away at it, year after year, decade after decade. It’s about learning something for the sake of YOUR interest. > > Personally I have NO desire to ‘shake science’ --to come up with a new fundamental relization-- or to cure cancer or clear HIV infections. I want to know HOW things work. I want to gain the skills to tease apart the methods of viral infection and see how various pathogens interact with thier hosts. Because of this world view, EACH time I have an experiment work that gives me new data I find fullfillment. That means each experiment helps to push me into new areas because I’m accomplishing what I want with each little step. > > If the only reward you see is the ‘big picture’ the publication, the cover of Cell, or a Nobel Prize you will spend decades sitting in a lab. Sitting there fustrated and bitter because all you see is each experiment as a failure because it didn’t bring the gratification you want. > > The idea that they are holding you back is pathetic. In college nobody is holding you back except yourself. If your course work isn’t fullfilling enough, why haven’t you gotten off your ass and hit the journals. Or read more advanced text books. What about hitting the upperlevel courses? Or arranging independent study courses. > > As for having ‘adult’ conversations. Wait until you spend 50 hrs a week reading journal articles and designing experiments and processing data. Being able to get away from highly complex technical topics is a godsend. > > [q]\*\* > When they are given work to do, they say something like "Why do we have to do all this s**t? In my opinion, Knowledge is Power therefore I do not say this.[/q]** > > Knowledge isn’t power. Power is being willing to do things nobody else will dare. To take risk that nobody else will try. You have to set yourself apart, make yourself special then use the power people give you when they see you are different. > > Knowledge gives you OPPERTUNITIES. It gives you skills to do things, the ability to think about a problem from different angles. To see in something a different set of circumstances that made it happen and see which part is most vulnerable. > > Hehe college students that WANT to do work. 😃 > > [q]\*\* > One student makes childish noises even though he is at least 19. > When will these people realise that they are not here to enjoy themselves. > > Sorry about the length of that. I am just so tired of them. \*\* What’s wrong with making childish noises? Hell, I’m 23 and when I’m in the BSL-3 doing virus work I’m making all sorts of silly/strange noises. Or I’m singing obscene japanese drinking songs. You’re forgetting that LIFE is about enjoying yourself. And when you’re in college, college is a part of your life. If you can’t enjoy what you’re doing, and where you are you shouldn’t be there. You’re at college to get an education IN SOMETHING THAT INTERESTS YOU. This is why you’re allowed to pick a major, and pick your classes. Yes, sometimes you have to take some godawful advanced calculus course because you need a working understanding of manipulating objects in a 4th D universe. (I think when I was told that it was a math joke) My god man. You’re in college not only to hopefully come out with a degree, but you’re also trying to find something out there in the world that sparks your interest. Something interesting enough you want to dedicate your life to doing it. All the time while you’re doing this you’re trying to figure out how to live life. Anyhoo, I just hope you spend some time to stop and think about life. And realize that not everyone has to be a carbon copy of you. Just don’t be suprised when one of those slackers, who bitches about the tests and homework and throws parties every weekend turns out to be DAMN good at what he does. Just because someone doesn’t work as hard as you do doesn’t mean they won’t get as far as you will. The college tradition has never been about serious students who sit quietly and expand their knowledge on a single subject. ---
**Author:** ![CRorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CRorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CRorex)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-people-at-college/143313/36 "2002-12-19T18:00:49Z")
Well I’m an idiot who can’t do the BBS code right. I deserve a spanking. So, any soroity (spelling) girls up the challenge? I’ll provide ‘refreshments’. ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-people-at-college/143313/37 "2002-12-19T19:18:48Z")
Well said, **CRorex**. The first post, not the second. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![zimmdogg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/d6d6ee/32.png) [@zimmdogg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimmdogg)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-people-at-college/143313/38 "2002-12-19T19:33:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by KarlGrenze \* > \*\* at least not taught with any regard of what the student will need later for life. Right now I have to take Physics. I do not want to be a physicist, I want to be a veterinarian, but I have to **take** that class. Is it really that important for me to know what’s the velocity of an electron travelling between to plates that form a magnetic field? Or the angle of deflection of said electron? Will that help me in my future career? \*\* Seems only fair, being as that I teach high school physics, and I had to take biology. One thing to remember - Mark Twain said [and I’m paraphrasing] that at 18 he thought his parents were the most stupid people alive, and at 22 he was amazed at how much they had learned in 4 years. Take home point: they’re going to grow out of it. It’s a developmental fact that often those of higher IQ or academic ability will prefer the company of those older than themselves. You’re developmentally ahead of them, they’re at college cause that’s what their parent/society told them to do, and soon, you’ll find people more mature and focused like yourself, and the rest of the population will grow up or fail out. And that, my dear, is real life. Sigh. To be back in college… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Melandry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Melandry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melandry)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-people-at-college/143313/39 "2002-12-19T20:37:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Achernar \* > \*\ ***Melandry** , would you be willing to email me? My address is in my profile. \*\* **Achernar** - Sure, sending one now. ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-people-at-college/143313/40 "2002-12-19T21:00:14Z")
It’s not just college - I was at a professional training seminar. 5 full days of workshop/classroom stuff. What with tuition, airfare, lodging, incidentals, my company spent about $4000. And there were people there who had to be asked to quiet down during seminars! I was pretty flabbergasted. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-people-at-college/143313.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-these-people-at-college/143313.md?page=3)