The Reality of College Classes you Have to Take

One of the best parts of postgrad life is that the concept of “homework” essentially disappears into thin air. (Realistically it just disguises itself as “overtime” or “work you have to take home.”)  And another great part of being out of college is the ability to do almost whatever you like with your time. No one’s telling you what courses you need to take to stay on track to graduate and that freedom is simultaneously freeing and terrifying. (Kind of like when you make it to the highest cliff in a hike and know you can see everything, but could also fall to your death if you take one more step. No? Not relatable?!). But when you’ve graduated and are reflecting back on the college classes you had to take, there’s probably a stark realization that will occur.

I was reminiscing on a Philosophy 101 class I had taken my freshman year of college. It was a good class to take. It was the second semester so I had made enough friends to have one in the class that actually lived on my dorm floor. This would be perfect, we could walk to class together, study for midterms and finals together, and if need be, complain about how unfair the professor was in her grading system.

It was an earlier class (9 AM is severely early for me) and I remember falling asleep in the class a handful of times. I enjoyed the professor, but there are some dim lit rooms mixed with lulling voice combos that your body just relaxes under. Even with all of that, I left the class with an A.

Which was cool, I needed that class to graduate, and it was a fun time with a friend but…looking back now, I barely remember anything. Which kind of sucks because now that I’m older and more mature, I wish I knew some basic philosophy for argument’s sake, or just for knowledge’s sake!

College is a fun time, and you’ll hear “C’s [or D’s] get degrees!” and that it’s more about “the experience than the classes,” all the time, but part of me wishes I had at least been a little more present. Because at the end of the day, you don’t have to do anything. I didn’t have to sign up for that class, there were sixteen other options that would have fulfilled my general education in humanities! When you’re graduated and looking for your first job, you’ll wish you spent a bit more time taking relevant classes, and doing good on grades and extracurricular internships. 

My point is, college is fun, it’s also expensive, it’s also a place to cultivate your mind further, it’s a time and place to be present and suck in as much as you can and have it alter the way you look at the world after you obtain that new information or memory. Sure, you don’t have to memorize your general education courses, but knowing about The Allegory of Plato’s Cave will reassure you that high education made you better, and will make watching The Matrix that much more fun.