The Flesh Is Present, But the Spirit Is Unwilling

Kent comments:

Calvin reminds me here of something that I have seen often.  I have even seen it in myself.

Many students today are shoved, kicking and screaming, in effect, into ‘education.’  My observations are mostly in regard to higher education.  There is a significant number of students at most universities today who do not really want to be there.  Like Calvin, they are physically present (well, most of the time, or some of the time, at least) but their minds and spirits are far from academia.

It was during my generation, it seems, that Big Brother got the idea that everyone should ‘go to college.’  You don’t have to be around campus very long these days to see that this was a very bad idea.  There are many people at most colleges who should not be there.  They are not interested.  But they are funded by various governments and prodded by ‘educrats.’

I attended college one year when I was not really interested.  The results were depressing.  The next year my mind and spirit showed up, and the change could not have been more dramatic.

I taught college classes for several years.  Each semester it quickly became clear who wanted to be there, and who did not.  It wasn’t always just a matter of academic performance.  Sometimes those whose minds were present and active simply did not have the mental ability of some others.  But the effort was apparent.

Some people should not enroll in college immediately after high school because they are not yet mentally ready.  A delay is appropriate for these.

Others should never enroll.  It doesn’t mean they are deficient in any way.  It just means they are not interested in academics.

Adjusting our ‘cultural thinking’ on this matter will lead to less frustration (on the part of both uninterested students and those attempting to teach them), less wasted resources, and less burden from payments on pointless student loans.