There’s a bubble over our heads. It isn’t visible to the eye, but boy, it’s there. It’s that intangible barrier that shields this La Jolla campus from the real world. A little snow globe filled with eucalyptus trees substituting for plastic flakes, a mix of midterms and lectures swirling around in place of stagnant water.
As college students, our mission is to become prepared as soldiers for the New (and now significantly humbled) Economy, legions of intellectual warriors ready to conquer the twenty-first century. How ironic! The same environment that is supposedly meant to ready us for the real world is fostering apathy and isolation. The problems that surround UCSD lives include: what class to take fall quarter, how to hide a Heineken from an R.A, and how not to fail that o-chem midterm. Gaza Strip, what’s that? Wait, is the war on terror over? Who cares? My professor didn’t use a curve!
By no means is this lack of connection an independent phenomenon at UCSD. On any college campus, the moment one steps into the symbolically and physically grandiose gates of the institution, one enters a world of not just higher learning, but higher ignorance as well.
The college campus is, by nature, not a microcosm of the world as it is. Freshmen revel in their newfound liberation from Mom and Dad, while grad students grapple in their post-graduate options. There is little if no room for reality here. Sure, there are multicultural organizations and expert symposiums on current events, but only a select minority participates. The atmosphere is materially different. And this isn’t necessarily anyone’s fault; on the contrary, colleges encourage the inclusive community ideal.
Those who live on campus are isolated not only mentally but physically as well. Off-campus students have a slight advantage here, but still do not escape the all-encompassing mindset of college. At least they learn to acquire skills that foreshadow future family life.
Don’t get me wrong; it’s not a horrible thing that college students are shielded from the influences and dealings of everyday life. The university experience serves as a station in life that molds and manifests aspects of self. Students graduate from adolescence to young adulthood, and the sheltered environment allows this progression with minimal distraction.
However, the wall between the University of California, Sheltered Division and the real world can be more than a petty hindrance. In a society already plagued by indifference, the college environment promotes further complacency. True, colleges are often depicted as hotbeds of liberal thought (UC Berkeley, anyone?), but the majority of students do not as fervently play a role in reinforcing this stereotype. The typical student is far more concerned with the weather than planning the anti-hate rally. The pitiful percentage of voters in both colleges and the nation serve as a testament to a just plain “”I don’t care”” attitude that is latently detrimental. The solution cannot be clearly determined either, however. From one perspective, it is inevitable that collegians are somewhat separated from the worldly scheme. It is, to an extent, up to each student to check CNN.com and see what the fuss is about, to take up responsibility in cooking, cleaning and the like to eventually gain a mindset that is more than naive and less than unrealistic.
What is needed is first a realization that our collegiate world is drastically different from a world rife with political, social, economic and personal problems and situations. This awareness would ideally create a desire to learn more about the world in participating in activities, checking out the news, taking an active role in organizations and pursuing occupations. It’s pretty idealistic to assume that doing all these things will remedy the situation and eradicate the invisible force that separates the campus from the complete picture. Yet, with an understanding that the world goes beyond what is seen in these confines, students can better prepare themselves for what is to come.
No one is guaranteeing that the bubble will be popped, but perhaps it will just become porous. When the time comes, the newly awarded graduates can leave not only with a diploma in hand, but a fearless attitude in mind: Ready or not, here I come.
