It all started in one not-so-sunny morning class when my Professor announced that he wanted to do a “dialogue” exercise. Twenty sleep streaked faces stared back at him blankly as he eagerly prompted us to move the tables out of the way and form a circle. We begrudgingly complied, and soon faced each other in a misshapen loop.
“Ok, now we’re going to go around the room, and everyone will check in.”
More blank stares.
“What do you mean check in?” a fellow classmate asked.
“We’ll all go around the room, and everyone will say their name, and what’s on their mind, and then say ‘I’m in’,” he answered. Hmm. We all looked around the circle apprehensively.
It started rather awkwardly, as none of us were quite certain as to what we were supposed to be doing, but I was quickly struck by the responses. They all had the same theme: the juggling act that is otherwise known as being a “college student.” Person after tired person listed the work that should have been accomplished yesterday, the rent check they needed to remember, the bosses they were dealing with, the friends that needed support, the parents that needed to be called, the children that needed to be taken care of, the husbands/wives/boyfriends/girlfriends that were time intensive. What I found interesting wasn’t the list itself, but rather the sheer number of the above that were on everyone’s list.
I suppose, like everyone, I had thought I was unique in my precarious balancing act of being a college student. In addition to my full class load I have an internship, work 20 hours a week at my job as a hostess, am planning a wedding, write this column, and am mommy to my precious little beagle. But this juggling act is the norm among college students, at least those of us here at USM.
To be quite honest, I feel a bit cheated. Do you remember being younger, and the picture you had in your head of being a carefree college student? The reason for this discrepancy, I believe, is the bizarre, mutant image of typical college life that is projected into our society by favorite 80’s flicks like Animal House and Revenge of the Nerds, newer movies like Road Trip, American Pie 2, Legally Blonde, and those horrible little college brochures that feature the serene, perfectly diverse, group of laughing, linked-armed friends as they stroll through the manicured school lawns on their way to fill their minds with fascinating information. Now that you know better, look closely at their faces: do any of them show the need for sleep or the frantic look in their eye that real college students have? No, and interestingly enough, at least one of them just so happens to be wearing a cozy sweatshirt with the college’s name emblazoned on the front. So, my conclusion is that they are either actors, or were just told they could have one of those tough baguette sandwiches from Aramark without giving up their first-born.
Also, the title of “student” doesn’t give credit to the many other hats we must wear throughout our college career. For most of us, attaining a higher education doesn’t mean putting other responsibilities on hold, but merely adding to them. The saying “these are the best years of your life” may apply to the rare student whose biggest responsibility outside of class is to find a semi-clean shirt after rolling out of bed, but for the rest of us, this phrase is frightening indeed. As I discovered during my class, it’s not as though my fellow classmates imagine that work after graduation will be some magically easy, ton-o-money venture (we know this is a fallacy, as most of us already have jobs), but are looking forward to the slight simplification that will be involved in being able to focus on one job as opposed to two.
So, the next time you feel like you’re edging across a tightrope, with your student/friend/child/parent/employee/tenant/boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife hats piled precariously atop your knowledge-filled noggin, if you turn your rather heavy head you’ll notice the other thousands of tightrope walkers balancing alongside you under this big top called college. Bring in the clowns.