College: The Societal Ritalin of our Time

I originally wanted to become a philosopher; however, having taken an honors seminar within my university's philosophy department on "What is Life?" I soon realized after being repeatedly shot down after every one of my conjectures that college was not going to be the experience they system had built it up to be.

so thank you.

I second what Monte said about "maybe you just went to the wrong college."

I went to Harvey Mudd College, and my college was awesome.

Everything was creative and busting with life. People were making amazing things everywhere, and we would discuss 7 impossible ideas at every breakfast. It was a place of incredible discoveries and transformation, on a regular basis.

Our professors were not "stiflers" at all -- they challenged, even demanded of us that we give our best in life, even if it wasn't through the established traditional paths. And my college recruited from outside the established traditional paths, as well.

I find it interesting that Monte advocated engineering, botany, environmental science, computer programming, and chemistry -- my school was an engineering school. Our six (and only six!) majors were: Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics, Computer Science, and Engineering -- always with a strong emphasis on humanities and social sciences.

Teddy's questions were just the sort of questions that we were encouraged with, when I was at Mudd. One of my first hum (humanities) classes was on technology and the utopian impulse; These were just the sorts of questions we talked about and brought into the work we did.

What Monte said is now making me rethink my thoughts about addressing social creatives, about Evolver types. Hard sciences and materials technology may be just what the doctor ordered. With a materials education, you can be very creative, and also see manufacturing from ground zero. With the hard sciences, you can hone your intuition with the "does it work" of the natural world in a powerful way.

I now have a deeper understanding of how to make the case for the hard sciences not as a means toward material gain, but rather, motivated by the spiritual impulses towards integrity, truth, creativity, protection, and adventure.

This is a fair argument, and I find my self continuously running into roadblocks to my intellectual freedom, creativity, whatever you want to call it.
I find myself frustrated by the lack of openness of teachers to students, but at the same time, have some more faith in my education than I think Teddy does.

The problem for me is, yes institutional education is messed up, just like yes, industrial society is messed up. The question is what are you contributing to move around that. If you are just another griper saying fuck the man, we have plenty of those already, and there have always been those people. Im not saying you're invalid, in actuality I share these sentiments.
If education is so messed up, what is better? What is within reach? What actual forseeable changes can we incur, as frustrated students and citizens?
What alternative to current indoctrinating university (and society at large) could be feasible?

also, yes an education is frustrating, indoctrinating, and conforming, but at the end we receive a very special piece of paper. It may not mean anything actually, it may even mean you think in a more constricted manner, but what it DOES mean is that other indoctrinated people recognize us, we fly the banner signifying our coming-of-age into the conformist society.
Who cares? If society is so evil and rigid, who wants to be a part of it?
Well, with that special piece of paper, we can get inside the walls of Babylon and tear them apart from the inside, so to speak. There is danger in this, however. We may be indoctrinated against our will, surreptitiously brainwashed by general society. Its not like certain people are 'out to get us', but society as a whole will certainly pull us towards the middle.
There is the danger that, in settling into a job and the rat race lifestyle, we eye porsches and beachside homes in Malibu, and accept the American dream as our own. This, indeed, is what happens to most.
So, what is the answer? Never stop being fed up? Unlike those professors, never forget that previous time when you wanted to challenge the establishment. Never stop being frustrated. Never 'settle'.
If you're not pissed off at current society, current education, current everything, you aren't trying hard enough.
The real challenge then, is to harness that frustration, surf that wave, and slip undetected into the walls of privileged society, and then, finally, when everyone least suspects it, throw a wrench in the whole system.
The most effective revolutionaries are the ones who strike from within.

Teddy - Fifty years ago pre college - I was suffering from acute confusion. The only possible major for me to take in college was philosophy. So when I came to Columbia that is exactly what I wound up doing.

Through a circuitous route I eventually got a Masters in psychology, then a Ph.D. in voacational rehabilitation counseling. My degree aided me in taking advantage of an opportunity to be a founder of the orginal Odyssey House - an innovative therapeutic commnunity center treating heroin addicts.

For the 17 months I worked there I experienced the very best and the very worst of working with substance abusers. Although I was never addicted to drugs I did discover that all that seemed to separate the resident and myself was the fact that I got to go home at night whereas they had to stay in the center.

I discovered I had a knack for conducting therapy but learned to distrust most authorities - for good reason.

Eventually I went on to more training as a psychotherapist working in a clinic seeing hoards of patients for $6.00 per session - all in the service of learning a trade.

Eventually I went into private practice and more evntually I got licensed as a psychoanalyst. Aiding me in being both an effective and gratified person and and professional are the incalcuable riches derived from my continued immersion in philosophy.

Two quotes come to mind which you might find useful in walking your own trip through life: "The longest way around is the shortest way home" (Ullysses - Joyce) and "Never let going to college interfere with getting a good education." Source known -

"Never let going to college interfere with getting a good education." Source known -
I believe that is actually Albert Einstein's quote (or similar to remark he made).
Another one of his goes something like: "I did not come to my understanding of the universe through my rational mind."

Not sure if you're familiar with Ram Dass (aka Richard Alpert)? Alpert was a leading behavioral psychologist who received his PhD from Stanford then found himself as a faculty member in the psychology dept. at Harvard in the mid 1960's, along side of Timothy Leary. Long story short, they ingested massive quantities of psychedelics and found that the current 'models' of consciousness that were taught at the finest universities actually were/are highly inadequate in defining what consciousness really was/is. They were ultimately 'relieved' (fired) of their faculty positions. Alpert's story gets considerably more interesting following his departure from Harvard. I would encourage you to check out some of his writing and/or lectures. My favorite book of his is 'Grist for the Mill' by Ram Dass. He is one of the smartest, funniest, and incredibly spiritual beings I've ever met. His story really defines the limits of an establishment education, but it (his education) nevertheless prepared and made him highly skilled in communicating complex ideas.

Academic science is predominantly composed of dogmatic materialists, with little understanding of subtler universal forces at work in nature.

Eckhart Tolle has a similar story with academics, though he wasn't into psychedelics, he had a very profound awakening while a professor at Cambridge. Check out 'A New Earth'

Another great book you might want to check out is The Island by Aldous Huxley. I think you'd get a lot of it.

For me, college did its job. I went in an arrogant, know-it-all fundamentalist and left a slightly more humble non-fundamentalist. At the very least I gained a small appreciation of the vast number of things I didn't know. (Unfortunately, it didn't work for my brother, who is still a know-it-all fundamentalist.)

My impression is that college did its job for you too, Teddy. You understand the limits of what you've been taught, you are aware of what college and society in general are up to, and you're pissed off. Seriously dude, I think you have a bright future ahead of you.

My fervent hope is that you start your own college someday.

Namaste, LH.

I think an under lying point to the original post is that until we transcend all of the obsolete relativistic and deterministic methods of experiment and understanding, there will forever be a pinprick in the proverbial "seat of learning"

So much of our so called psychology and science has proven itself wrong only after riding the wave of so-called knowledge for a period ... at relatively great expense.

Virtually all planetary atmospheric destruction has come from the most educated branches of humanity.

When will the Universities only teach actual universal truth ... no longer subject to it's own fancy ... but true for all beings, in all places, at all times.

How else will any true student of life become satisfied.

Quantum Science has us on the brink of finally transcending such relativity ... yet there is as much resistance within academia, if not more than outside of academia in relation to such possibility.

The best students make the best teachers ... yet if what is being taught remains limited to it's own relativity ... how deeply satisfying will such learning actually be to the very spirit of inspiration.

I'd say it's more like the Catholic Church of our time, mixed with bad people and good people, all "doing the good work". It would seem in some instances that an institution of higher learning is another group of fancy brick buildings with white-haried men in glasses telling you what you have to think.

But they might not try to kill you. We hope.

“An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come.”-Victor Hugo