Salon.com: Over the next several weeks 18.4 million students will be headed to colleges and universities in the United States. They, their families and taxpayers are making a monumental investment in the futures of these students, believing, correctly, that an undergraduate education is foundational to success in a global and knowledge-based economy.
3 comments:
This was an interesting article to read as someone who is just starting their college experience, especially conservatory program experience. The article starts off by talking about how for most students, college is a time for exploration in order to find out what they are passionate about and what they want to do in their lives. As students of a theatre conservatory, we have already had to agree that we already know what we want a large portion of our lives to be about: theatre. However, as we have gotten repeated to us throughout the first couple weeks of living on campus, that does not mean that we already have our identities set in stone. This article reminds me in a new way that it is important to explore a life outside theatre in order to make the theatre side of my identity stronger, and to make my own perspective more full of variety.
I would 100% percent agree with Anabel about being in a conservatory program means that we kinda know what want, Design and Production in a theatre setting but I think something clearly shown by the Alumni of CMU Drama is that a Drama degree doesn't mean that you end up working in theatre. Yes, plenty of School of Drama grads do but just last week at the talk with Chapel Folger, we saw that theatre skills are highly transferable. I think this unknown that is talked about is a little more applicable to our lives post graduation. Though, I do think I am still asking myself the question who am I? Just because I know the program and major (sorta because I can be anything in the D/P program) I am in doesn't mean I know who I am exactly. Secondly, one reason why I came to a conservatory program is because I getting a huge opportunity to take responsibility in learning. This is one of the things the author pointed out as a thing to take advantage of in college. With School of Drama's open door communication policy, I have to be my own advocate and help me succeed with help from others. . I think CMU as a whole makes students extremely responsible for their learning, which a draw to the university at large. Lastly, I think the two reasons for making meaningful relationships and being exposed to more diverse groups is what drew me to CMU. The article seems to highlight that all universities have this and I don't think it is true. There was definitely college campus that I visit and students that I spoke to who didn't ever focus on diversity or small class size. Though I don't know any other college experience, I think we are spoiled here at CMU with these two things.
Taking your education into your own hands is one of the biggest things I have learned so far in college. I have learned that if I want to really understand something it is on me to teach myself and utilize the resources around me in the ways that I see fit to better my learning. What this has come to mean for me is that my peers are a great resource along with my professors. The professors here are great and they are a wealth of knowledge, but sometimes they seem unapproachable so it is easier to go to pears and even sometimes upperclassmen to ask question. Learning from other students is something that I have done a lot this year. This also goes into the making meaningful connections point that this article makes. Taking to peers about things that they are passionate about and leaning form them helps create not only professional connections, but personal connections as well though mural interests.
Post a Comment