On College "Uneducation"

Mar 10, '08 8:54 PM

(This was a critical essay for our Major4b <Creative Writing> which was published in our school paper <The Malolos Academe>... Sabi ng prof ko i-edit ko ng konti 'to... kasi baka mabatas ako, ehehehe.... but this is the original version. Hope you like it. >:p)

          "I believe that college education is nothing unless it widens a man's vision, broadens his sympathies, and leads him to higher thinking and deep feeling."  ~Jorge Bocobo, descriptive essay on "College Uneducation".

            Yes, college "uneducation". There may not be and existing word in the dictionary, but this word defines Jorge Bocobo's insights on some institutions that has this kind of problem. His essay is based on his experience as a professor and observations in a very wide-known university. Bocobo believes that our college education can "uneducate" us rather to educate. I agree with his theory because I as a college student had some experiences regarding college uneducation.


            Bocobo also said that the students who are being uneducated are the vital ones - the people who tend to stunt their minds, dry up their hearts, and quench their soul. He also discussed some ways in which college students can get college uneducation. The first one is book worship. Let's be honest with this: most students nowadays are very dependent with their books that our professors are recommending. If you are a good observant, you may notice that some of our professors are very "bookish". They tend to research on the book alone for their topic plan. And because of this, we, the students, are being influenced by their dependency on books, which are gathered facts and accumulated data. Bocobo said, "It is thus that many of our students surrender their individuality to the textbook and lose their birthright - which is to think for themselves." Being dependent on books may cost to paralyze our minds! It may lose our independent thinking and criticizing. I am not saying that we must not read books more often, but we must not worship them. Remember that these books are also made by former students. that these books are made not only by facts, but also according to their opinions and their way of criticizing a certain topic.

            The second factor is professional philistinism, or over-specialization. It is good if you want to achieve something, which is being a professional. But often times we are so focused on achieving that M. A., Ph. D., Engr. or whatsoever that we forget to appreciate little things that helped us a lot along the way. This is where crab mentality enters. We don't care if we overlapped someone just to get there. "Our older countrymen say, with reason, that the new education does not lawfully cultivate the heart as the old education did."

            The last one is the misguided zeal or loss of philosophy in life. We set our philosophy before we entered college. But because of book worshiping and focusing on over-specializing our target profession, we already buried our main goal deep inside our heads. We often forgot to ask ourselves again what is the main purpose of choosing this certain course. That's why some students end up being preoccupied in certain issues that is related to their profession, but not related to what they really want.

            I admire the bravery of Jorge Bocobo in writing this essay. And for me, as a college student, will always bear in mind that not all universities who have a good name in our learning industry can educate us, but rather has an ability to "uneducate" us. I have also discovered and learned that "uneducation" can also replace the term "overlearning".