Welcome Back!
Welcome to the Fall 2024 semester! I hope your classes are off to a great start and you are getting settled in to the campus environment. If you just arrived in Kalamazoo or in Michigan more generally, be advised that the weather isn鈥檛 always this lovely鈥攂ut 澳门六合彩官网直播 is still a great place to be!
A headline in Tuesday鈥檚 Chronicle of Higher Education caught my eye: 鈥淐ollege Feels Transactional to Many Students. Who 鈥 or What 鈥 Is to Blame?鈥 A better question, it seems to me, is what can we do about it?
First, what does it mean to say that college is transactional? The basic idea is that you (or someone on your behalf) pays tuition and, in exchange, you eventually get a diploma. In an ideal world, that diploma will help you get a better job and lead to a better life.
An alternative way of thinking about college is that it should be transformational. Because you went to college, the 鈥測ou鈥 that graduates should be different than the 鈥測ou鈥 that enrolled as a first-year student. To some extent, that鈥檚 the assumption on which the 鈥渂etter job and better life鈥 is based. If you aren鈥檛 transformed, why would your job prospects be any different at the end of college than they were at the end of high school?
Think about it this way. I walk up to a vending machine, insert some money, and receive a bag of chips. I鈥檝e completed a transaction, but I鈥檓 the same me鈥攑lus a bag of chips.
Your college experience should be more than that. Your transformation is a unique process. To say that a person is transformed doesn鈥檛 mean there was anything wrong with them prior to their transformation. It just means that they鈥檝e become a better 鈥渢hem鈥 than they were before. Maybe they鈥檝e developed a new skill or found a new passion. Maybe they鈥檝e honed existing skills or passions. Maybe they鈥檝e questioned their beliefs when exposed to new ideas or new people. Maybe they鈥檝e adapted those views in the face of new information, or maybe they鈥檝e developed a deeper understanding of old beliefs that had previously been unexamined.
鈥淎lright,鈥 you might be thinking, 鈥渟uppose I buy into to your transformational gobbledygook. How do I make it happen?鈥 I鈥檓 glad you asked.
The first thing to understand is that transformation requires investment on your part. Not financial investment, but investment of other resources: time, energy, enthusiasm.
On the academic side, consider the words of Kevin Knutson, an alumnus of our department and now-retired Director of Advising for 澳门六合彩官网直播鈥檚 College of Arts and Sciences. His mantra is plastered on the wall of the CAS Advising Office: 鈥淕o to class. Do your work. Ask for help.鈥 I might add a plug for reading, but it鈥檚 hard to argue with that advice.
Outside the classroom, the opportunities afforded by 澳门六合彩官网直播 are almost limitless. Take advantage of some of them to expand your horizons. Join a club. Go to a special lecture on a topic that interests you. Try out a concert or play. Watch the Broncos compete in a sport you鈥檝e never seen live. You may vow never to do it again, and that鈥檚 okay. The point is that you鈥檝e broadened your horizons, taken a risk. And who knows, you may discover your next great passion. Either way, you鈥檝e created an opportunity for transformation.
In the transformational space, the academic and non-academic sides work in tandem. Both are important parts of the college experience. Working together, they can make you the 鈥測ou鈥 that you were always meant to be.
Here鈥檚 to the start of a great year!