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I always thought that by the time I got out of college, and out of debt, that I’d find my true calling. It just seemed reasonable, you know, for $40,000 worth of debt you’d think that I’d at least have some sort of career direction, references, connections, or at least a sense of satisfaction and self-worth.
But no. After four years of college slavery and a multitude of illnesses—including, but not limited to 1)scarlet fever, anxiety attacks, and an incredibly painful stomach 2)ulcer—I am still as lost as ever, 3)treading in the waters of what just seems like a hopeless life/career situation because in college I was too busy trying to 4)decipher 5)Noam Chomsky to develop any real interests in anything but 6)beer pong, costume parties and making my own alcohol, which, in retrospect, seem like really useless skills—the first two, I mean.
It’s starting to 7)dawn on me that I’m an adult now. There are a stack of bills on my desk that need to be paid, taxes that need to be filed, emails that need to be read, reports that need to be checked, and while on paper, my second job says “freelance,” the workload doesn’t seem to differ from my fulltime job. My job seems to give a whole new meaning to the words “overworked and underpaid.”
So here’s what I’m getting at: College was useless. And not in terms of education, but in terms of life. I probably studied more than anyone else during college, but my 3.8 GPA or the number of times I ended up on the Dean’s Honors List is 8)irrelevant in real life. More than a year after graduation, I am as lost and confused as ever trying to figure everything out. While pursuing my “dream job” is great, getting there takes time and the starting salary is always awful, and internships just don’t cut it anymore when you have to start a life.
我一直以为等我大学毕业，把所有的债还上，我就会找到真正的人生目标。你想啊，这也很合理。在背上了四万美元的债后，你会想，我至少会有某种职业发展方向、有几个推荐人、建立一些人际关系，或者至少会有一种满足感，找到自尊。
但事实远非如此。在当了四年的大学奴隶，经历过多次病痛——包括，但不限于猩红热、焦虑症和难以忍受的胃溃疡——之后，我依旧前所未有地迷茫，还在看起来毫无希望可言的生活/工作处境中摸索。这是因为在大学里我忙于解读诺阿姆·乔姆斯基的语言学，除了玩啤酒乒乓球、参加面具派对和自制酒精饮料这些似乎一无用处的爱好之外，我没有发展其他实在的兴趣——当然，我是指前两种爱好没有什么用处。
接着，我终于意识到我现在是一个成年人了。在我的桌上，有一叠账单等着交钱，我需要报税，需要回复电子邮件，需要看那些报告，名义上，我干的是自由职业，但我的工作量似乎与我的全职工作没有什么区别，我的工作好像把“工作繁重，报酬过低”的含义提高到了一个新的层次。
好了，我想说的就是：读大学是没有用的。这不是就教育而言，而是指在生活方面。我在读大学的时候，可能比任何一个人都学得刻苦，但我3.8的平均分，以及我在学校系主任优秀学生名单上出现的次数在现实生活中毫无意义。在毕业了一年多后，我依然像以前一样迷茫和困惑，极力想把事情弄明白。虽说追求我“梦想中的职业”这个想法不错，但要达到这个目标需要时间，可各种工作的起薪总是少得可怜，而你一旦要开始自己的生活，找个实习工作已经很不现实了。
But no. After four years of college slavery and a multitude of illnesses—including, but not limited to 1)scarlet fever, anxiety attacks, and an incredibly painful stomach 2)ulcer—I am still as lost as ever, 3)treading in the waters of what just seems like a hopeless life/career situation because in college I was too busy trying to 4)decipher 5)Noam Chomsky to develop any real interests in anything but 6)beer pong, costume parties and making my own alcohol, which, in retrospect, seem like really useless skills—the first two, I mean.
It’s starting to 7)dawn on me that I’m an adult now. There are a stack of bills on my desk that need to be paid, taxes that need to be filed, emails that need to be read, reports that need to be checked, and while on paper, my second job says “freelance,” the workload doesn’t seem to differ from my fulltime job. My job seems to give a whole new meaning to the words “overworked and underpaid.”
So here’s what I’m getting at: College was useless. And not in terms of education, but in terms of life. I probably studied more than anyone else during college, but my 3.8 GPA or the number of times I ended up on the Dean’s Honors List is 8)irrelevant in real life. More than a year after graduation, I am as lost and confused as ever trying to figure everything out. While pursuing my “dream job” is great, getting there takes time and the starting salary is always awful, and internships just don’t cut it anymore when you have to start a life.
我一直以为等我大学毕业，把所有的债还上，我就会找到真正的人生目标。你想啊，这也很合理。在背上了四万美元的债后，你会想，我至少会有某种职业发展方向、有几个推荐人、建立一些人际关系，或者至少会有一种满足感，找到自尊。
但事实远非如此。在当了四年的大学奴隶，经历过多次病痛——包括，但不限于猩红热、焦虑症和难以忍受的胃溃疡——之后，我依旧前所未有地迷茫，还在看起来毫无希望可言的生活/工作处境中摸索。这是因为在大学里我忙于解读诺阿姆·乔姆斯基的语言学，除了玩啤酒乒乓球、参加面具派对和自制酒精饮料这些似乎一无用处的爱好之外，我没有发展其他实在的兴趣——当然，我是指前两种爱好没有什么用处。
接着，我终于意识到我现在是一个成年人了。在我的桌上，有一叠账单等着交钱，我需要报税，需要回复电子邮件，需要看那些报告，名义上，我干的是自由职业，但我的工作量似乎与我的全职工作没有什么区别，我的工作好像把“工作繁重，报酬过低”的含义提高到了一个新的层次。
好了，我想说的就是：读大学是没有用的。这不是就教育而言，而是指在生活方面。我在读大学的时候，可能比任何一个人都学得刻苦，但我3.8的平均分，以及我在学校系主任优秀学生名单上出现的次数在现实生活中毫无意义。在毕业了一年多后，我依然像以前一样迷茫和困惑，极力想把事情弄明白。虽说追求我“梦想中的职业”这个想法不错，但要达到这个目标需要时间，可各种工作的起薪总是少得可怜，而你一旦要开始自己的生活，找个实习工作已经很不现实了。