Throughout middle school and high school, American students are constantly bombarded with the importance of college. For kids like me who took advanced and AP classes , it was pretty much a given that soon after graduating from high school, we'd be rapidly moving onto the next level. It was going to the best time of our lives. We'd gain a wildly different perspective on the world. We'd be elevated beyond our former selves. We'd meet lifelong friends. Sounds more like a cult than education in hindsight.
And really it is. College is an introduction to a glorious hive mind. Professors and fellow students will welcome you with open arms, if you think like them. The smallest point of dissent was enough to become an outcast in most of my classes. Resistance is futile.
What followed was four years of pure hell. Between two schools, it was pretty much the same. Everything, absolutely EVERYTHING, was about politics. It was inescapable. Even in a composition classes, we talked about unpacking the invisible knapsack of white privilege. And didn't really learn much about writing.
Being a feminist simply was the only option. Fellow students and professors assumed I was one. And at first, so did I. Then I started reading up on feminism. In the year 2015, feminism was a hollow shell of what it once was. I didn't want to be valued merely for the size of my victim complex, so I opted out of feminism. Yeah, not so easy.
I remember saying this during a presentation. I mentioned that while 1st and 2nd wave feminism had value in my eyes, I really couldn't get behind the crazy 3rd wavers who dyed their armpit hair to combat the patriarchy and other pointless drivel. Because of its current state, I couldn't call myself a feminist. My professor actually laughed at me and said, "If you believe in the equality of men and women, then you're a feminist. Sorry." At this point, I wasn't far enough down the rabbit hole to realize that this tired little bit of sophistry was the "but muh dictionary definition " argument.
This was the moment I realized I couldn't express my opinions freely. My fellow students, and my professors almost saw me as enemy, at the very least, as a heretic. This was not a fun position to be in. I felt like I didn't belong. And I didn't. I was problematic. I remember thinking that everyone must be like this now. What the fuck had happened?
Luckily for me, the internet exists. I rediscovered The Amazing Atheist, and much to me delight, he had a whole catalog of videos making fun of feminist bullshit. He was like me. Not a sexist, but most certainly not a feminist. From here, I discovered Sargon, ShoeOnHead, ArmouredSkeptic. I was alone on campus, but not alone in the world. There was still some sane people left after all.
I managed to get by, graduating in the spring of 2017. But, it was painful. I constantly had to hide my real feelings, or be seen as Nazi scum. In reality, I'm libertarian left. But don't try to point that out on a college campus.
I'd become a little bolder towards the end. I didn't hold back as much, to my own detriment. I remember telling an LGBT friend that America wouldn't implode after election of Trump, and that, more than likely, everything would be fine. I later found that I was Nazi scum and that this was a micro aggression. This was point where I pretty stopped giving a fuck what anyone on campus thought of me.
The Donald's ascension to power. That was pretty the nail in the coffin for any respect I had for higher education. The mood on campus was toxic, dismal, and dark. You would have thought there had been a mass shooting, not a democratic election. My inbox was full of messages from high-up campus officials, urging unity and strength in these dark times. One of my classes regularly had about 20 of of its 50 minutes devoted to listening to the professor preach doom and gloom. There were "post election discussion spaces" as well. Something tells me a free-thinking libertarian lady like myself would have been ejected immediately. But at this point, I really didn't give a shit.
Basically, a liberal arts college is place where you are taught what to think and sent out into the world to preach about micro aggressions and hetero-patriarchy. When I was done, I didn't feel educated. I felt like I'd spent four years resisting brainwashing. It was all a lie, a conspiracy almost. I didn't learn anything. Any change in my perspective had been self-guided and against the goals of the university. I had people I talked to, but they weren't my friends. The girl I was at school was a smokescreen to protect myself. They didn't even know me. But in the face of all this, I'd survived. Survived in spite of being a sexist, racist wrong-thinker.
Honestly, don't go to college if you want an education. If you don't have a degree you need for a specific field i.e nursing, biology, math, - just don't go. Instead, get a library card or a Scribd membership. Read books that interest you. Teach yourself about science, history,and philosophy. Listen to youtubers who challenge your viewpoints. Talk to others about politics and books online. You'll learn more, actually make friends, and save yourself several thousand dollars in the process. Please, I implore you, stay away from these wretched hives of scum and villainy masquerading as places of learning and free thought.
