Friday, 5/2/97 Graduates need not be frightened by world outside
UCLA University’s tough curriculum softens impact of ‘real’
world
By Jason Caro This message is especially for those graduating
soon from UCLA and moving on to whatever awaits you. As you may
have heard, you are about to enter the harsh, cruel workplace and
actual life, otherwise known ominously as the "real world." But
here is some good news for a change: that real world is going to be
better and more fun than ever! Just before you move on though may I
suggest that you take some time to linger at Royce. At UCLA this
means taking one last, soulful look at the west end of Royce Hall.
Gazing upon its spires, multiple towers and its expansive, elevated
courtyards, you may find yourself transported to a world of magic,
fairy tales and charming castles. All this is quite in keeping with
a general idea of what you may have heard about the university:
namely, that it is the "ivory tower" and everything that happens
here is theoretical, with little "practical" linkage to the real
world. It is often said that what is called "education" is hardly a
preparation for what happens in the real world. What gets spoon-fed
is too abstract and is of only limited direct use. Worried by this
"trend," some uptight universities back East are offering "Reality
101" courses to get baffled proto-graduates ready for the harsh
world outside. To put it simply, the college lifestyle is too
unreal. To compound the problem, new graduates will have to face
that real world with its conflicts, triumphs and difficulties.
These need to be grappled with and, should you dare to do more, you
will have to draw on meager skills "to make any difference." Let me
say that this standard view is a bunch of bunk. Enlightened
thinkers, theologians and others from the intellectual caste have
been unable to make heads or tails of the real world for the past
300 years and show no signs of doing any better now. UCLA is an
overdose of reality. What happens outside remains a complete
mystery (fortunately). Approach it that way. Indeed, having gone
through the rigors of college life, you are more than equipped for
the challenge. Have you ever noticed how difficult it is for people
from the outside, say working folks, to go back to school? This can
be taken as an indication of just how easy life is in the real
world. UCLA is tough. Imagine how you will fare, as a result of
being battle-tested in the corridors of Kinsey. Of course, quite a
few of you have skated through your undergraduate years. Grade
inflation, grade changes, perhaps even cheating, have enabled to
you to party and still pass. But this only means that things will
run even smoother once you have left. At this point, it can be
asked, as they do on the top floor of Dodd: Well then, hotshot,
what is real and what is not? On the one hand, you are saying that
Royce symbolizes fantasy, with its castle-like spires, and yet it
is located in the most real place (i.e. the university). What sort
of sorcery is this? This apparent contradiction is just that –
merely apparent. Did you notice how Washington D.C., the very
capital of the outside world, came up with funds to repair Royce
Hall during a time of budget constraints? The smug cynic would
explain this by saying that the Democrats were simply wooing
California voters to get re-elected. But a more interesting view
would be that the fateful division between the so-called real world
and the abstract ivory tower was threatened by the imminent
collapse of the Royce "castle." In order to uphold the entire
distinction, Royce has to be rebuilt. It is the underpinning of the
whole scheme. As the symbol of fantasy, such a structure has been
set in the heart of reality (i.e. the university). It has to be
fixed up so that it, the fictional, can outshine all our other
buildings, especially the upstart structures next door. Otherwise
reality might start to show through. Otherwise we might recognize
that university life is the real McCoy. Nothing would be more
devastating than to finally know what’s real. But there is one
final point. Here, the logic gets pushed to the limit. Perhaps
Royce cannot be "rebuilt." You can read this in terms of it being
impossible from an engineering standpoint or symbolically – I don’t
care. That would mean that we would be left with just the Anderson
School, URSA, pragmatics, finances, the rude regents and Murphy
Hall machinations. Real-type stuff. Things would get real in a
hurry. But fear not. What would happen then is that UCLA would
slide into the mysterious space that surrounds us, what is
currently "known" as the real world. The boundaries would become
porous. But fantasy has always trumped reality. (I can make this
ridiculous claim because the intelligentsia, those officially in
the know, have yet to demonstrate what is real). Therefore, should
Royce fall, so would its counterpart (i.e. reality) and ours would
be a totally fantastic universe. You are being let in on the secret
now. The idea that the university experience is unreal is a
constructed, pedagogical farce but a necessary one. Shocked and
frightened by what you will have experienced here, you will have
built up your defenses as a result. Thus, you will enter the "real"
world (ouch! it hurt to write that) very well armored. Woe unto
those who get in your way. You don’t have a thing to worry about.
We who have yet to graduate would ask that you not make too much of
an impact and for you to leave some magic for us. To be honest, you
have no choice. Reality is always subservient to fantasy. Take one
last look at Royce. It is cracked and crumbling now. But the
scaffoldings of workmen, thanks to money from the real workers, are
indications of a rebirth. Caro is a graduate student in the
political science department.