Compeducation

I'm not a fan of posting personal achievements online for all to see. As a matter of fact I vomit a little bit every time I see a screen shot of people's paychecks, semester grades, or bottles of liquor (some people consider their ability to purchase alcohol an achievement). There's an entire community out there of people that pat each other on the back over the interwebs creating a culture of self promotion that keeps itself alive on a strict diet of insecurities.

The idea of achievements creates of every activity a competition. College students pick majors after googling them to find out what field leads to immediate employment post-graduation: "It's a competitive job market." They then take a bunch of required classes they pass without exhibiting any passion for what they're doing. It's what I can imagine sex with a rubber doll is like for the rubber doll. I see them every semester sitting there looking bored, tired, upset, and unaware of their human ability to get up and leave the room. The best thing they can do, in my opinion, is think about what car the degree they pursue will get them. This drudgery is rewarded nonetheless (because this, ladies and gentlemen, is adulthood). Training you to do things you don't like doing all the while pursuing a reward for it is the nature of the grand programing scheme that is education. Have you ever house trained a dog? This should sound familiar. I guess this is why so many people don't like college and the flesh wrapped vessels that attend it.
Fortunately, not all college students are of the passionless breed of horse that gauges success through letter grades and diplomas. Some of us, believer it or not, do this stuff to feed our curiosity, to explore new things, to escape from the drudgery many are so eager to chain themselves to, and to simply learn something. Heck, some of us don't even do it for the graduation ceremony/party, or even for whatever gift it is parents give their kids upon graduating (I don't know what goes on in the suburbs).
Grades become an afterthought when you enjoy learning whatever it is you are learning. You don't wake up every morning dreading the fact that you have to hop on a train for over an hour in order to get to a campus. You don't even see the need to drown your unfortunate self in alcohol every weekend in order to reach that all too familiar sense of numbness. Even the 20 something year old that has his/her 15 minutes of fame before class won't bother you (you know, the guy that makes "jokes" and the girl that's wearing heels to school because "I'M HERE AND I'M TALL").
So here's to everyone who is not motivated by that pat on the back. This one is for all of us that actually do things we love doing and watch as relationships with the fuddled masses (nice) naturally wither and die. Most importantly, the grades we get reflect the amount of fun we have had throughout that "obstacle course" called college.

Sincerely enjoying every moment of it,
Alex Moran