4 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, February 13, 2001

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Unmasking the academic myth
MANISH RAIJI NOTHING CATCHY


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EDITED AND MANAGED BY
STUDENTS AT TIHE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
SINCE 1890

GEOFFREY GAGNON
Editor in Chief
MICHAEL GRASS
NICHOLAS WOOMER
Editorial Page Editors

Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of the
Daily's editorial board. All other articles, letters and cartoons do not
necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily

common com-
plaint regarding a
college education
is the obscene amount of
F: time spent learning materi-
al that will prove to be
essentially useless in terms
of future employment. The
so-called "busy work" that
is so fundamental to many
classes is, unarguably, a waste of time. The
problem is that people expect a college educa-
tion to teach them valuable information that
will later be a fundamental part of their lives.
That presupposition is largely untrue.
I can count the number of classes that I've
taken that I have walked away from with a rea-
sonably deeper understanding of the subject on
my fingers.
A solid 90 percent of the classes taken in
college are filler - meant only to fulfill an
arbitrarily defined credit requirement. That's
not to say that there aren't any courses worth-
while - I have taken several courses (mostly
upper-level) on very specific areas that I have a
genuine interest in. The rest, however, is pre-
dominantly non-creative memorization of facts
and theories that barely contribute to my educa-
tion.
Most of what I've learned here has been
outside of a classroom. That is, I suppose, a
given -I spend all of four hours a day, minus
weekends, holidays and the grotesque amount
of times I've skipped, in school. I would actual-
ly feel like I am wasting my youth and cheating
myself out of valuable time if I didn't learn
more outside of school. Beyond that, the fact of
the matter is that any book that I read in a class-
room can easily be read outside of a classroom.
Universities don"t have a monopoly on infor-
mation.
But it stands to reason that I would then be

prompted to ask myself why I am putting in the
time, effort, and money into an institution from
which I don't feel I am leaming anything above
and beyond what I could easily learn on my
own, given a certain level of intellectual curios-
ity and a drive to read on my own.
If I learn more from "real life," why am I
putting any effort into academia?
And the answer is simple. Organized leam-
ing doesn't teach us valuable information, it
teaches us a valuable skill: The ability to disci-
pline ourselves in order to undertake tasks that
we abhor.
A degree doesn't signify that a graduate has
some vast array of knowledge - it signifies the
willingness and the discipline to play a game,
follow the rules, apply one's self and succeed.
There are a few people, interested in post-gradu-
ate work for example, that retain the information
gained in college in order to excel in their future
endeavors. However, these people are essential-
ly continuing their lives in academia, and it is
questionable (unless they aim to go into research
and/or teaching) whether their further studies
will truly contribute to their education.
So what about those people who are simply
in college for four years, seeking a degree?
What about the people who see college as sim-
ply a segue between high school and "the real
world?"
What a degree does signify is that the holder
of said degree is capable of applying himself
toward tasks that he has no interest in. There's a
correlation between better universities and a
better work ethic - the harder a college is, the
more detailed the information that must be
digested is. It stands to reason that memorizing
more complicated details about mundane sub-
jects requires a greater level of discipline,
which is a marketable skill.
Not to say that college life is complete dis-
cipline at all times. A few Wednesday bar-hops,

a few Thursday night house parties and a Fri-
day trip to East Lansing ought to be enough
proof that college life isn't the suit-and-tie busi-
ness world that many aspire to. But the fact that
we juggle such obscene amounts of (often ille-
gal) entertainment, while at the same time
remembering the poli sci reading due Mon
is a testament to the ability of college stude
to handle responsibility.
In the end, that's what a diploma means.
Pseudo-intellectual debates about a Greek
tragedy isn't a sign of what was learned in col-
lege - anyone can read a book, with or with-
out an incredible investment in tuition. It's the
fact that college students can handle a certain
amount of credit hours in a certain amount of
time (preferably four years, possibly five years,
sometimes six years) that proves their worth as
employees.
This may seem like an extremely nega*
view of what we're doing here.
And I may be misrepresenting some people
who actually have a passion for sitting in a
classroom and being fed material.
But considering the number of people who
consistently complain about being in college, it
only makes rational sense that the underlying
reason for being here is not because of a gen-
uine interest in learning. Academia is an invest-
ment, without a doubt, but it is not*
investment in one's mind.
It is an investment in one's human capital;
their marketability to future employers. Any-
thing that can be learned in college can be
learned outside of it, but independent learning
does not afford a person with the final prize, the
final purpose of this game. A diploma.

Manish Ra i's column runs every
other Tuesday..Give him feedback at
wwwmichi andaily.com/forum or
via -mai at mrayi@umich.E*


Comparison of TV's
West Wing, real one
utterly ridiculous
To THE DAILY:
Mike Spahn's column, "If only Jed
Bartlett were the real President ..." (2/12/01),
is, in a word, ridiculous.
Spahn bases almost his entire column on a
fictional (but very good) show. Bartlett's
"duties" mirror almost nothing that the real
president does in a typical day. If we start
basing our opinions on the jobs of TV char-
acters, our nation will go down the tubes very
quickly.
Why should we be so upset if our presi-
dent is exercising? He has what might be the
most high-stress job in the world. Heaven
forbid that he takes some time out to keep
himself healthy. He might be exercising in
the morning, but he's also probably working
well into the night. His hours are longer than
most (if not all) people's jobs.
Spahn also questions President Bush,
asserting that Vice President
Cheney is the real president. This is just a
way of taking out aggression over a hard
fought election that did not come out in favor
of Spahn's preferred candidate. Why not give
the president a chance?
He will face more difficulties in the next
four years than President Clinton did in eight.
And, no one raised eyebrows about Clinton's
exercising habits, which included mid-morn-
ing runs.
The bottom line is that the president isn't
doing anything objectionable in office, so
let's let him do his job and then criticize his
performance. STEPHEN LUND
LSA sophomore
SOUND OFF ON THE ISSUES
WWW.MICHIGANDAILY.COM/FORUM

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An Open Letter:
To Henry Baier, associate
vice president for
facilities and operations
Dear Sir:
I wish to issue a simple challenge to
you: Come ride on my bus and try to find a
single passenger who thinks that your
planned "merger" of the University of
Michigan Transportation system with the
Ann Arbor Transportation Authority sounds
like a good idea. Last week, you reportedly
said only a few drivers, hysterical about los-
ing their jobs, think this is a bad idea.
Frankly sir, this statement makes you
appear to be some sort of Orwellian techno-
crat, and I'd like to believe that this public
institution is not being run by characters
from "1984."
A few minutes spent on a University bus
would give you a better appreciation for the
disgust this proposal has generated among a
wide spectrum of the University communi-
ty.
This would also give you an opportunity

to make a public statement about this mat-
ter, something that would be appreciated by
many persons and could only serve in you
best interests. I say this because your silence
on the matter (combined with your refusal
to release any written documentation related
to the issue) leads to a rather unsettling (not
to mention unflattering) conclusion: This is
either an example of administrative negli-
gence and mismanagement on an epic scale,
or you are purposely attempting to avoid
public scrutiny and the Freedom of Infor-
mation Act.
If you could make a statement to answer
any of the research produced by the bus dri-
vers over the last two weeks, you coup
begin to counter the widespread perception
of ineptitude and evasion of public scrutiny
on your part - even if this was on the hum-
ble setting of my bus.
Please call my managers at Transporta-
tion Services and they would be happy to let
you know how to find me on route. I'm
looking forward to your company.
SCOTT BURKHARDT
University bus drive
The letter writer has driven University
buses for the past four years.

I

Science of senioritis
GINA HAMADEY CAUGHT PROVOKING

nn Arbor is thaw-
ing. Any hint of
spring-time is
usually enough to send
me skipping since I have
been cold and bundled for
too long. But this year
with the rays of sunshine
comes the sinking realiza-
tion of the inevitable:
Graduation.
Sure, the fact that I don't have a job yet is
a source of my graduation anxieties. I also
don't know where I am going to live and
with whom. I am not used to this type of
blindness because as students here we are
forced to find housing in October for the fol-
lowing year. It's February and all I know is
to which city I want to move.
This lack of knowledge is actually invad-
ing my dreams. Almost every night I find
myself on a different fast-moving vehicle: I've

have. Of course the panic has to do in part
with the who, what, when, where, why of
next year, but I think it runs a little deeper
than that. I've been thinking a lot about my
potential. Isn't that what college is, a mea-
sure of one's potential? It's a meter of sorts
that takes into consideration grades, concen-
tration, extra-curriculars and internships.
And then, after one is used to performing in
the realm of education, one is supposed to
take this potential and turn it into something
tangible outside of our safe Ann Arbor box.
That is pressure.
Years ago, two college lads headed
opposing papers, The Harvard Crimson and
the Harvard Lampoon, and have lived up to
their college potential. Jeff Zucker, formerly
of the Crimson, was recently named NBC's
president of entertainment, presiding over
his former nemesis and Lampoon president,
talk show host Conan O'Brien. These two
guvs didn't let their success end with Har-

potential goes rotten.
All of these worries are enough to give a
person senioritis. The average senior goes out
maybe four nights a week, reasoning it's
last time in Ann Arbor with all her coll e
friends. But senioritis is also a deterrent to
senior madness. If she wasn't socializing, she
might be spending her time dwelling on the
anxieties that come with senior year. My pre-
dominant anxiety is this: What if Ann Arbor
is the climax of my life?
Michigan Student Assembly President
Hideki Tsutsumi has some advice on the
topic. He believes himself successful at
University less because of his position t
because he ran again after being defeated in
1999. He is confident this perserverant atti-
tude will make him successful after gradua-
tion.
I find that to be a good way to measure
your potential. Maybe the fact that I received
a poor grade freshman year and vowed to