In the past couple of weeks I've frequently found myself thinking, "what did I just do?" My brain spins with redundant thoughts (as if rewording reality will make it more real): I graduated. I finished college. I ended life as I knew it. I terminated my institutionalized educational track. I earned a degree...a what?
I think every graduate would be kidding themselves to say they've never thought: "After all THAT I get a piece of paper?!" We all know it's not about the piece of paper (which has yet to come in the mail, by the way), but I still can't help but want to try and articulate what it really is about instead. I just went through a ceremonial acknowledgement of what?
There are SO many things said about what it means to get a college education and there's no way I can dissect them all, but I would like to explore some of the possible metaphors for what it really means to get a degree. For example, "It's a key," or, "It's a ticket," etc. And without making this a scientific process I'm speculating that there's likely a few different categories or perspectives (likely rooted in one's philosophy of education whether they know it or not) out of which all the metaphors grow. Feel free to comment with ideas on what you think a college degree is, or answer the question: graduation is a ceremonial acknowledgement of what? I'll be thinking too...
No comments:
Post a Comment