It's easier not to be wise

Jack Piatt
Piattology

The greatest of teachers won't hesitate to leave you there by yourself chained to fate -- Ed Kowalczyk: Live

The piece of paper we are all seeking, the light at the end of our four-year tunnel, is not our ticket to the other side. It is not our freedom or getaway into the real world. A degree is nothing but four or more years of finding out what we are made of and how much crap we can take. Sure, we learn many things, but most of it is learned outside the classroom. The things we learn inside the classroom are just information that anyone could soak up if they took the time to listen or read a book.

Being in college does not make us special, despite what our parents or professors might say. The truth is: what we came here with before we walked into our first class is more valuable than anything we picked up while we were here. It is simple, really; either you have what it takes or you don't. A grade point average doesn't determine a person's worth or predict the outcome of their future and neither does a degree that should be printed on some expensive paper after all the money we spend on the damn thing.

No matter how good the professors are at this University or any other, in the end it all comes down to the person staring at us in the mirror each morning. If we finally do make it to that boring graduation ceremony after all the crazy celebration, the smelling salts of realization will begin to linger and it will be time to wake up. It will be time to realize everything we ever needed to succeed wasn't purchased at 710 Book Store or billed to our bursar accounts. It was with us all the time. This was just a test. When we walk away from here and head in whatever direction our lives take us, it will be our confidence and intuition, personality and determination that will carry us down the road.

A degree is a great tool to have hanging from our tool belts, but it is worthless if we don't know how to swing a hammer and hit a nail.

Our degrees are wall ornaments and trophies for our parents, personal victories and a testament to a goal accomplished. But if we rely on our degrees to get us where we want to go, we will fail miserably. No professor or mentor can make your life what you want it to be. No degree or academic honors will get you any further. The only thing our teachers and paper trophies can do is open a door for us, and once it is open it is up to us what we do with our time.

There were and are some great people who have changed things in this world without degrees and tutoring. They made it happen because all the knowledge and tutelage they needed was surrounding them their entire lives, and they just picked it liked fresh fruit and bit into it with a desire and hunger that can't be taught or put on Powerpoint. It is all natural and 100 percent self-induced. We can't buy it at GNC or find it online. It is inside us and if we spent as much time looking deeper within ourselves as we do following guidelines and a system for the grade we need, we might actually learn something about ourselves.

Our instructors send us on our way whether we learn what they have to offer or not; as long as we meet the requirements for passing the class, it doesn't matter whether or not we actually learn anything. It is a system, and even though there are some great teachers in the system, we are being flushed through it like a piece of tissue down the toilet. The few great teachers aren't enough to make up for a system that thrives on money and GPAs. That is all it knows. It doesn't recognize talent, potential or desire. It only acknowledges adherence to structure and conformity.

I say get your degree. It is important. It is valuable in today's society. It is like a car -- it can help get you to where you are going. But just the same, don't forget what you are made of ... don't forget what you have that separates you from everyone else in the world with a degree.

And even though you might have a car...don't forget you started out with legs.

Piattology appears every Wednesday. Jack is a senior in advertising. His views do not necessarily reflect those of the Daily Egyptian.

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