My Fifth Year of Highschool

With dim lights hanging over green felt-covered tables on one side of the room and loud, blinking arcade games on the other, and music blaring from a jukebox, there was no way I was ever going to leave the university. Only a dollar twenty-five to play pool here for an hour! And when it wasn't my turn, I could go and play pinball! Every day, hundreds of students hung around the arcade, shouting, laughing and looking to challenge someone to a game of pool or a shot at beating you on an arcade game. Yes, I came away from there many times with a bigger ego. I never left after being defeated-you just had to find someone else and beat him or her. I lost a lot of money in that gloomy basement amidst the cracking of pool balls and the beeping of video games. But I took something out of it too. In a way, all the money I lost was paying for what I know now: an arcade should not substitute for college, even if the arcade is in the basement of the student union.

As a freshman at the University of Arizona, I at first found myself awed by the power of college: The flocks of people-students and professors alike-mingling on the mall, in the buildings, and in the Student Union. And in the early weeks of my first semester, I quickly found my favorite place on campus: the arcade. Billiards, table tennis, video games, and music. All the trademarks of a college student's recreation area. It was in these first few weeks that my impression was made about the university. When friends or relatives would ask me questions such as "How's college?" or "What's school like?" I would tell them what I really thought. I would say, "It's like high school, but with a lot more people, a bigger campus, and a lot of time in between your classes." And that is the plain truth. My class work did not offer much of a challenge-it was more or less the same stuff I'd been seeing for years. The professors weren't that big of a deal-they were much like high school teachers, but you got to call them by their first name. And the number one best thing about going to college? I didn't always have to go! That's right: attendance in some of my classes wasn't even mandatory. So how, then, can a school call itself an institution that offers a "top-drawer education" when most of my professors couldn't even find the top drawer? The answer to this question is not simple. In fact, the answer may not even exist.

When my grandfather went to the College of the Pacific in California in the mid-1950's, college was not something that every student took for granted. College was viewed as a privilege; college was an opportunity to enhance your skills and hone your mind. Not all high school graduates went to-or even had the chance to attend-college. Luckily for my grandfather, in order to take over the family business he needed to have an extensive knowledge of business. When my grandfather went to school, he knew that he'd be out of school in four years, or eight semesters. College was a lot like a job-you went to school everyday and gave it your all. Today, my grandfather holds a Bachelors' Degree in Business Management-what was then a degree that was difficult to achieve and was highly recognized. Today, however, a degree in Business Management is a filler for students who want to get out of college fast in order to make big bucks, start a family, and live happily ever after.

That is the ultimate goal of every human being, right? To be "healthy, wealthy and wise." College is preparing every student that comes through the university gate to strive for a good education, a better job, and an even better family. In other words, college tries to make you smart, get you rich, and point you down the road to a house with a white picket-fence. In that house, one should find a kind, caring spouse, a dog, and 2.5 children. Yes, now you are happy. College has done its job. College has guided you toward the American Dream-"where the women are strong, the men are good looking, and the children are all above average." But does college really prepare everyone to live and achieve successfully the America Dream?

When I came to the University of Arizona,