As a first year college student, it didn’t take me very long to come to this realization. Everyday, walking around campus, I am surrounded by what seem to be empty shell-people; individuals who were once full of life and vigor and personality, but have been reduced to glazed eyed, sad faced, hipster zombies, addicted to starbuck’s expresso shots, skinny jeans, and their second lives on Farmville (though i must admit, i'm kinda guilty of that last one. CURSE YOU FACEBOOK!); the kind of people you stare at in awe and pity as you think to yourself “what the (insert expletive of choice here) happened to you?” Never in my wildest dreams (and they are pretty wild) did I imagine that I would be nostalgic for my high school days. I LOATHED high school, but at least the people i was surrounded by were interesting, full of life and creativity. A lot of this likely is because in high school, the stress level was minimal (though we didn’t realize it then) compared to the amount of stress and anxiety one is faced with in college. There have been studies showing that stress can destroy creativity, (http://www.thelantern.com/2.1345/stress-stifles-creativity-study-shows-1.86506) and I can’t say enough about Ken Robinson’s TED talk on the subject of school and its role in discouraging artistic ability:
Maybe I'm just being overly dramatic. Maybe i'm being too sensitive. After all, I could be wrong about all this. I could just be making something out of nothing........but i doubt it.
Oh man! Really great stuff and quite true. I see this issue all the time on campus... Howard University's art students are often downplayed by the more dominant majors such as Business and Psychology. And as the video pointed out - that really hurts us, and makes use not want to be creative ;__;
ReplyDeleteBut yeah... awesome post Rag. I'll be your first official follower (just not registered) as long as you update. I hope this Indie guy posts just as good stuff =P
Hey guys,
ReplyDeleteAwesome blog, I really like your writing style. And so true, it's awful what people label as rock these days. It gets to the stage where people question you as to what your musical taste is, and you wonder whether or not to say rock. Would they understand that you meant REAL rock? I'ma stick with Metal :D
Keep up the good work *thumbs up*
I dont think it happens to be that college brings this about I think its age period. Those who aren't in college face the same issues of being bored and being less creative. I for one have never felt more alive while in college. (This does not refer to the party life and no Nadira I am not a geek.)The classrooms all far more interesting than anything I have experience in high school and thus I dont mind doing papers for interesting stuff but really...30 pages on black history that you didnt teach about you just made us research aimlessly (gotta love high school). I may have grown up to fast because I did all of my partying in high school but im glad I did because now I focus better than ever and if you think about it even though people on campus are ZOMBIES you always have friday and saturday nights when from my experience the most creative people come out.
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