The University of Vermont's Independent Voice Since 1883

The Vermont Cynic

The University of Vermont's Independent Voice Since 1883

The Vermont Cynic

The University of Vermont's Independent Voice Since 1883

The Vermont Cynic

School No Guarantee For Knowledge

So have you heard we are at war?

I sure the hell haven’t learned anything about it from my grand old college education.

After arriving back to school from break and having our country at war, I couldn’t stand the idea of having to sit in classes while our country was dropping bombs onto Iraq.

To make matters worse, I haven’t had a damn discussion within one of my classes.

For goodness sakes-we are killing innocent people and using these weapons of mass destruction and everybody just seems to sit silently in their seats while teachers conduct classes as if nothing is wrong.

Now don’t get me wrong-you can walk around campus and see discussion and activism about the war, but it certainly isn’t being facilitated from within any of my classes.

Just think back to when you were small children in high school.

Teachers and faculty tried to tell you that grades were your life. Receiving good grades was always the main emphasis.

This was a constant lie always fed into your head.

Why was it so important to get into a good school?

“College will prepare you for the real world,” said your guidance counselor.

To the contrary, I have experienced quite the opposite.

How am I being prepared for the real world when we are choosing to ignore it in all my classes? It is as if I have entered an even more sheltered world than in high school.

It is as if I am in a college bubble; my professors expect that their classes are my life, but real world issues affect me, they affect everyone.

How are we as college students expected to effect change in this world when our minds are not being provoked to think in such a creative way?

I don’t want to ignore life-I love live, we all live for life. Everything currently going on is relevant; world issues affect all of us.

I don’t care if you are studying English, Environmental Studies or Medicine-these issues are not particularized.

They affect everyone and should be discussed.

I feel that to ignore this war, to pretend like everything is fine, to pretend like the world is a perfect place-is the biggest lie of all. This is the college education I am paying all this money for?

So I am just asking all the professors out there to open discussions.

Ask your students how they feel, tell them how you feel.

Reach out to your students-teach them relevant issues and incorporate these issues into what you are teaching in class.

If you can’t do this, then you aren’t really preparing your students for their future.

Everyone is going to feel the repercussions of this war.

It affects us all, so why not learn about it and be prepared for the realities of life instead of just ignoring them?

I have never known anything to just go away if you ignore it; in fact, things just get worse.

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