I have inserted below, for your benefit, a wonderful email sent to me by a former student of mine at the University of Minnesota.
Sorry for being a loser and posting two email posts in a row.
Really, though, this student of mine has some amazing things to say. As much as this email was addressed to me, it is relevant to everyone. I've removed (hopefully) all traces of his identity from the exchange so his privacy can remain protected.
On Wed, May 25, 2011 at 5:20 AM,
Hey Allison,
So its possible that towards the very end of the semester I looked you up on FB and subsequently found your blog. I particularly noted only the posting about your struggle, so to speak, with the University of Minnesota, higher education in general, and say, disillusionment. Please forgive me if what I've described already or am about to say is in any way inappropriate or otherwise - I have only the best of intentions and must admit that the gray rainbow of the internet is a moral landscape somewhat difficult to navigate.
I can understand in some respects what you're dealing with. While I didn't leave a program in Europe (right?) to find myself both student and sole expert in my area of study at a school in the frozen north, I am disillusioned. I study English and political science, and so most of the time find myself sitting in circles bantering about identity or oppression with the worlds finest dressed socialists. That is, of course, when I'm actually in a class related in any part to my interests, rather than jumping through hoops and working overtime for my minor in bureaucracy. Finally (well, you know), I just want to write - practice, perform, learn about - and may as well set my diploma ablaze the moment I receive it. All in all I'm chasing futility but I'm too far along into securing my safety net to turn back.
Now to the real reason I'm sending this:
I hope you're able to pull through, and see that your situation is meaningfully excellent - by which I mean that, despite our misplaced ambitions, completion of a particular program, degree, or attainment of status within an arbitrary community is, and ought to be, less important than excelling personally and intellectually. It is, to be frank, more than a little awesome to say that you're the reigning expert at this school and, to whatever degree, beyond. Not to be melodramatic or anything (which I clearly am anyhow) but some have "greatness thrust upon them," say in this case the greatness of intellectual or academic leadership. I must presume that your goal (the goal) was to be the best, to advance the field, to attain the highest level or degree which you could; and so what now? Pave the way and lay down rail wrought from the coinage of your mind, leaving behind the arbitrary and obsolete.
"To thine own self be true" and in all other respects you will be fine. And for what its worth you seemed pretty cool - I'm sure you'll be alright.
I hope you find here just that bit of reassurance that we all need from time to time. And if not, hey, at least this a great demonstration on the need for internet security. Kidding, of course.
-[my insightful student]
From: Allison Kuhns
Date: Sat, Jun 18, 2011 at 10:18 AM
Subject: Re: Random
To: someone
Hi Someone,
Sorry that it took me so long to get back to you. I've been focusing on other things lately--I'm sure you understand! I really appreciate this email. The more we (my husband and I) start to express and act on our frustrations, the more we find other people out there dealing with the same ideas. I feel kind of strange encouraging people to follow my lead (mostly because massive school debt and unemployment do not add up to financial stability), but I really believe that if everyone who is sick of feeding the system just dropped out of it, there would be big changes. Ultimately, though, I think it is most important for people to do what they need to do. I'm not an objectivist at all, so I don't support the idea of people simply pursuing their own needs and wants at the cost of all others but I think that if people stopped and thought every once and a while, they would see that the current pattern for a "normal" lifestyle (get your degrees, get your job, climb the ladder, step on others so you can get ahead, play the game, etc.) leaves a lot of people with so much material wealth and so little soul. I've watched someone go from a great friend to a person I can't even relate to because of a pursuit of that normalcy. I believe that as long as some of us keep on thinking and then acting on those thoughts, there is some hope for humanity.
Best and thanks,
Allison
Sorry for being a loser and posting two email posts in a row.
Really, though, this student of mine has some amazing things to say. As much as this email was addressed to me, it is relevant to everyone. I've removed (hopefully) all traces of his identity from the exchange so his privacy can remain protected.
On Wed, May 25, 2011 at 5:20 AM,
Hey Allison,
So its possible that towards the very end of the semester I looked you up on FB and subsequently found your blog. I particularly noted only the posting about your struggle, so to speak, with the University of Minnesota, higher education in general, and say, disillusionment. Please forgive me if what I've described already or am about to say is in any way inappropriate or otherwise - I have only the best of intentions and must admit that the gray rainbow of the internet is a moral landscape somewhat difficult to navigate.
I can understand in some respects what you're dealing with. While I didn't leave a program in Europe (right?) to find myself both student and sole expert in my area of study at a school in the frozen north, I am disillusioned. I study English and political science, and so most of the time find myself sitting in circles bantering about identity or oppression with the worlds finest dressed socialists. That is, of course, when I'm actually in a class related in any part to my interests, rather than jumping through hoops and working overtime for my minor in bureaucracy. Finally (well, you know), I just want to write - practice, perform, learn about - and may as well set my diploma ablaze the moment I receive it. All in all I'm chasing futility but I'm too far along into securing my safety net to turn back.
Now to the real reason I'm sending this:
I hope you're able to pull through, and see that your situation is meaningfully excellent - by which I mean that, despite our misplaced ambitions, completion of a particular program, degree, or attainment of status within an arbitrary community is, and ought to be, less important than excelling personally and intellectually. It is, to be frank, more than a little awesome to say that you're the reigning expert at this school and, to whatever degree, beyond. Not to be melodramatic or anything (which I clearly am anyhow) but some have "greatness thrust upon them," say in this case the greatness of intellectual or academic leadership. I must presume that your goal (the goal) was to be the best, to advance the field, to attain the highest level or degree which you could; and so what now? Pave the way and lay down rail wrought from the coinage of your mind, leaving behind the arbitrary and obsolete.
"To thine own self be true" and in all other respects you will be fine. And for what its worth you seemed pretty cool - I'm sure you'll be alright.
I hope you find here just that bit of reassurance that we all need from time to time. And if not, hey, at least this a great demonstration on the need for internet security. Kidding, of course.
-[my insightful student]
From: Allison Kuhns
Date: Sat, Jun 18, 2011 at 10:18 AM
Subject: Re: Random
To: someone
Hi Someone,
Sorry that it took me so long to get back to you. I've been focusing on other things lately--I'm sure you understand! I really appreciate this email. The more we (my husband and I) start to express and act on our frustrations, the more we find other people out there dealing with the same ideas. I feel kind of strange encouraging people to follow my lead (mostly because massive school debt and unemployment do not add up to financial stability), but I really believe that if everyone who is sick of feeding the system just dropped out of it, there would be big changes. Ultimately, though, I think it is most important for people to do what they need to do. I'm not an objectivist at all, so I don't support the idea of people simply pursuing their own needs and wants at the cost of all others but I think that if people stopped and thought every once and a while, they would see that the current pattern for a "normal" lifestyle (get your degrees, get your job, climb the ladder, step on others so you can get ahead, play the game, etc.) leaves a lot of people with so much material wealth and so little soul. I've watched someone go from a great friend to a person I can't even relate to because of a pursuit of that normalcy. I believe that as long as some of us keep on thinking and then acting on those thoughts, there is some hope for humanity.
Best and thanks,
Allison
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