Today’s undergraduate is not only simple and stupid, but immature to the point of pre-adolescence. We expect very little from our “institutions of higher learning,” and even less from the “reality” that awaits beyond the confines of campus life.
We drug ourselves with meaningless conversation, impotent organizations, and delusions of a leisurely existence. “Who’s doing who,” and “Who’s wearing what,” are articles of information that seem to be in the greatest demand.
Sororities and fraternities preach active community involvement, working to pacify the bulk of eager young students by recruiting all the potential conformists and limiting the individual voice of those remaining to traditional stereotypes.
“Nerds, geeks, dorks, hippies, skater punks, intellectuals, artists, freethinkers” are the labels that allow for the premature dismissal of a proper community of thought.
But who wants to think anyway? Don’t we all just want to get drunk, wake up late in the afternoon, throw the frisbee around, go shopping, see a movie and above all else avoid responsibility of any kind!?
Isn’t this who we are-wasters of our parents “hard-earned” dollar, missappropriators of our government’s funds, abusers of the most important resource in any society (that being education)?
These realizations came to me as I was sitting in a local theatre, falling asleep under the big screen, and inadvertently holding my breath every time I heard an exaggerated “farting” sound, or the unmistakable gag of a potential vomiter.
The movie was Van Wilder, and I admit I had to laugh when the arrogant bad guy was forced to defecate in an office trashcan because his girlfriend slipped some “Colon Blow” in his milkshake. However, this was one from a very small list of entertaining moments in an otherwise boring spoof on college life.
I can’t say that I was offended by the satirical characters or the done-to-death slapstick comedy, simply because I didn’t take either too seriously.
On the drive home, though, I couldn’t help coughing up my disdain with exclamations like, “that movie sucked,” or, “I can’t believe I paid six dollars to be bored out of my mind!” Van Wilder wasn’t poking fun at the typical college student, but rather emulating an existence we seem to embrace without deliberation, and that did offend me.
I came to the University of Denver with the hope of learning something I couldn’t find anywhere else. I wanted to meet people who were entirely different from myself. I wanted to develop a perspective that was not only unique but almost counter-culture. I don’t like “pop” music. I don’t want to be superficial.
Unfortunately, I find myself sinking into a quicksand that emanates from both. I’m waiting for an olive branch, an outstretched arm, anything. Can anyone help me?
