Note to MCW readers: In light of the terror attack in Nice, France last night I want briefly to step away from my primary focus on offering information, insights, and advice about the college experience. Instead, today I offer the essay below as one way of understanding why college matters.
Here we are again. Another act of terror. Another staggering body count and extraordinary number of innocent men, women, and children – children – dead or lying in hospital beds battered and bandaged. Another community reeling, devastated by unimaginable brutality and incomprehensible loss. Another city – Nice – whose name will always be linked to tragedy – Dallas, Orlando, Paris, San Bernardino, Brussels, Istanbul, Charleston…the list goes on and on. To say nothing of Baton Rouge or Falcon Heights or Ferguson, or Chicago.
The totality of the violence and cruelty and death gets to be overwhelming. It is frightening and unsettling and disorienting. The realization that evil exists and its relentless intrusions into our daily lives shake us to the core and leave us confused and uncertain. And so we recoil. We despair. We grow defensive. We assign blame. We seek retribution. Or we change the subject and try to tune it out because it all feels too complex and fraught and hopeless.
This space is about helping you to navigate and understand and succeed in college. And more often than not it will focus on relatively narrow topics and issues – writing a good application essay, the relative importance of standardized tests, dealing with roommate issues, etc. But today, in the all too fresh aftermath of Nice and Dallas and Orlando and the rest, I want to speak to why college matters. Continue reading “Why College Matters: The World Needs You”
