Daily Lobo Column
When my mom was younger than I am now, she knew she was an artist. She wanted to take art in high school, but her guidance counselor made her take Spanish instead because she’s Venezuelan. She wanted to go to college to study art, but her mother thought college should be reserved for the boys, so my mom was sent to a community college to learn a trade instead.
Fortunately, my mom never gave up on her art, in spite of such obstacles. She pursued it on her own throughout her life, took and even taught classes on it, and is now back in college to get her degree.
And here we are. Traditional and non-traditional students, new and returning. Thanks to the efforts of activists over the past 50-something years, many more of us are here than used to be. At UNM, we are afforded the opportunity my mom was denied in her youth. But what are we doing with it?
If an article in the July 5-12 issue of the Daily Lobo (“Schools revamp graduate programs to lure students”) is anything to judge by, most of us are not here to pursue our passions. We are here, rather, to improve our chances of getting a better paying job. That, at least, is the guiding assumption graduate programs are apparently making when trying “to lure students.”
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When I tell people I’m a religious studies major, the most common response is, “What are you going to do with that?” Of course, what the inquisitors really mean is, “How are you going to make money off of that?” The question is an indication of the goal of higher education in our time.
That goal is to make us more marketable, more valuable commodities in the workplace. Our choices in education are typically guided by what we think will make it easier to sell ourselves to the highest bidding employer. But might there be some other, better goal for education?
The answer should be obvious, but it’s about time for another tangent anyway, so I’ll digress. My dad’s family also discouraged him in his art. As a result of their experiences, my parents devised a radical new theory for child rearing: encourage your children in their talents.
They taught my siblings and me that education is an opportunity to pursue your passions, to gain a broader and deeper understanding of the world, to learn to think critically about the events and ideas you encounter.
My parents believed that supporting their children’s interests, without fussing over whether those interests had any earning potential, would help us to become fuller, happier, more confident individuals.
But their theory is perhaps not so new after all. The anarchist Modern Schools of the late 19th and early 20th centuries operated along similar lines. They utilized a more liberated learning environment, integrated work and play, and endeavored to foster children’s natural desire to learn. Their system was centered not on finances, but on education itself.
So, you see, money isn’t the only reason to seek education. Education can and should have the more fundamental purposes of learning and personal growth.
I don’t expect these words to inspire all of you to drop all monetary concerns and pursue education only to your heart’s desire (though I know some do and I hope more will). But perhaps you will consider giving a little of your time here to that part of yourself that craves so strongly to be expressed that it doesn’t care whether it gets paid.
