I’ve never been an advocate of the whole “fuck the system” attitude. Lately, however, I’ve been finding myself hopelessly lost in deep thought concerning my academic future, and if catering to society’s expectations is what I want to do.
I know I sound like the typical “intellectual rebel,” but after thinking about it, I really don’t want to be society’s bitch. Let me elaborate:
The majority of one’s childhood is spent at school, in which the foundations of his future education are established. After he spends the first 14 years of his life slaving away for the sake of his academic future, he will likely attend college, in which he will spend thousands of dollars on classes. After college, he lands a time-consuming — yet financially providing — career. For the next 10 years, the majority of his life is devoted to his job. Although he gets the weekends off, his job still requires him to complete some company projects from home. Eventually, he settles down and gets married. After having 3 lovely children with his beautiful wife, he notices his paycheck doesn’t seem so…extensive. In the end, he ends up raising and supporting his 3 lovely children (so they can follow in their father’s footsteps), while providing for his lovely wife, while maintaining the same job he’s had his whole life, while living in a cosy, middle-class suburban household. And then he dies and his children do that exact same thing. And his children’s children do the exact same thing (except for his granddaughter, Sally, who became a sexually-compulsive heroin addict who eventually committed suicide because her uncle molested her at an early age…).
I’m sorry, but I honestly don’t want to live the typical American lifestyle. I don’t want to pay thousands of dollars for college, I don’t want to labor over seemingly pointless school work, and I don’t want to work for some dead-end job (like my father is doing). I know this all sounds painfully typical of someone my age, but the truth is, I don’t feel like I belong in this society. I wish there were shortcuts around it all (other than becoming a hopeless musician), and I’m sure there are.
To be honest, I don’t really know what career paths I wish to choose from, but I’m certain I’m not going to commit myself to some tedious, dead-end job. So far, starting an online business is probably my best bet. For the most part, I’d have maximum flexibility, and I’d be in control. Besides, I wouldn’t need a college education.
I’m not exactly sure where this is going. I’ve always entertained these thoughts, and I doubt my opinions will dramatically change in the future.
I do know one thing: College isn’t for me. Millions of people slave away in order to attend college. After that, they slave away in order to land a decent job, although most of them land some monotonous career anyway. Shortly after that, they move to a suburban neighborhood and raise a family*. I don’t want to live my life like that. I want to do something different.
Take into consideration that I’m not implying all Americans live this way. However, I’m sure an overwhelming percentage do.
One thing’s for certain: I’m not going to work my ass off so I can attend a college. I don’t have any desire to be a doctor, lawyer, clinical psychologist, physicist, or anything else that requires me to sell my soul and sanity to education or a career.
*NOTE: I’m not suggesting that raising a family is in anyway negative. Hell, I’ll probably end up doing the same thing.
